Seirin's Pride
by Emily Evelin
Summary: Kuroko and Kise are both girls picked for the Teiko basketball team for their unique skills. After they graduated, the Generation of Miracles split up, with the exception of the girls; they both went to Seirin, a unknown school. Determined to win, their bond grows ever stronger. Fem!Kuroko and Kise. Chapter 1-30 is a repost from my former account.
1. Enter the Team

Disclaimer: Original characters belong to the writer of Kuroko no Basket

Note: Kuroko seems alot weaker than in the anime, and the school Kaijo doesn't exist. I'm following the beginning of the story as a start-off point for my first fanfic, bear with me ^^

Eyes opened wide and stared at the pretty yellow haired girl standing in line with the boys in the boys' basketball team of Seirin. Kise Ryoka stood perfectly straight, not giving a fudge about the guys staring at her. Next to her, a blue haired girl, significantly shorter, clung to Kise, blushing deep red.

"Its alright, Kuroko-cchi, no need to be so shy~" Kise chided quietly, and attempting to calm the blue haired girl. "It's not like they notice you anyway."

Sure enough, no one payed any attention to Kuroko, all gazes were on Kise. Someone coughed. Coughed again. Finally Riko gave up being subtle and yelled, "ALL EYES NOT ON ME THIS MOMENT FORFEIT THEIR PLACE ON THE TEAM."

The voice alone is enough to catch the attention of many applicants, but the threat sealed the deal. Riko Aida cleared her voice. "Please take off your shirts... um except for you, Kise. I'll check you over later." She smiled brightly at Kise. She started down the line, looking at the build of each player, writing down notes and taking attendance, at the same time giving each player something to work on. She passed over Kise, merely writing down her name and continued on to the end of the line.

Riko stopped at the end of the line, counted the names on her clipboard and then counted the players. She was missing Kuroko. "Hey, anyone seen Kuroko?" The players buzzed and looked at each other; no one knew where Kuroko is. Riko sighed and went back down the line.

As Riko reached her, Kise raised her hand. "Kuroko-cchi's right here," she called. She pushed Kuroko in front of Riko. Riko stopped dead, and a bead of sweat found its way down her temple. She screamed and fell back.

"Si-since when were you here?!" she demanded, pointed at Kuroko, who is hiding behind Kise, obviously startled by Riko.

"F..f..from the beginning," Kuroko said quietly. She looked like she was about to cry. Instantly, Riko felt guilty.

"I'm sorry... um, next time just say that you're here, okay?" Riko said to Kuroko. Kuroko nodded. "Right... okay, you girls follow me. Hyuga, get the others warmed up, we're having a little scrimmage right after I get Kise and Kuroko checked up."

"Hai hai, Coach," Hyuga said cheerfully. "Take your time. By the time you're done, I'll have these boys _all_ warmed up and ready to go." He cracked his knuckles and grinned.


	2. I Won't Leave You

Note: Kuroko is kinda shy, don't scare her too much :P

Riko went to her "office" trailed closely behind by Kise and Kuroko. Her office is jut a storage room near the gym with space cleared out. She opened the lights and locked the door after the other two girls are inside. "Okay, you can take off your shirts now," Riko said. "The school had the lock changed so that it can only be unlocked from the inside without keys."

Kise nodded and took off her shirt in a single swift motion, revealing her large D-cup breasts held in by her bra. Riko went bright red and for a moment blushed even harder than Kuroko's almost permanent blush. She looked away and inside, she cried. 'Why only me, why am I the only one with small breasts?' She turned back and looked at Kuroko, who still had her shirt on.

"Whats wrong, Kuroko? Come on, take your shirt off, we're all girls here," she coaxed. Kuroko slowly shook her head. "Why not?" Kuroko didnt say anything, but merely shook her head again and held her shirt down.

"Come on, Kuroko-cchi, don't be shy~!" Kise reach from behind Kuroko and pulled up her shirt. Kuroko went down and covered her breasts as soon as her white shirt cleared her hands. Showing though her small hands were breast cups of size C at least. As Riko looked on, she felt herself slowly, but surely turning to stone...

Kise pulled Kuroko up, gently forcing her to stand. Kuroko tried to resist but Kise was too strong. "Alright, lets take a look at you two," Riko said, recovering slightly from her traumatic experience. She looked Kise over, and noticably avoided looking at the breasts. She liked what she say. Kise had a shapely body, as expected of a girl who was a model since middle school, yet still still managed to be muscled, even though most people wouldn't be able to tell just by looking.

Kuroko still had her breast covered, but Riko was able to see enough to process her body fitness in her brain. Kuroko is noticeably weaker than Kise, but that is considered average among girls. Riko had her doubts about Kuroko. How had such a average girl managed to join the elite Teiko boy's basketball team?

She recorded the data and flipped the pages of her clipboard back to the front sheet and placed it on her desk. "Lets go join the boys in their warming up, shall me?" Kise and Kuroko both nodded. Kise was still putting on her shirt, but Kuroko already had her shirt on. After Kise had her shirt back on, Riko opened the door of her office and the trio walked back out... to be greeted with silence.

Finally, Hyuga greeted them as he walked toward them.. "Sup, I worked them real good." He smiled, but it didn't seem real. It was like a demon was trying to break out of his face. Behind him, all the first years were lying facedown, seemingly dead. The second years sat with their back against the wall, breathing hard, sweat running rivers down their faces. Then, one of the first years twitched his finger.

"Co..coach, s..save me..!"

Riko sighed. "Hyuga, I said warm-up, I didn't tell you to run them into the ground."

Hyuga smiled again. "Ah haha, sorry, sorry."

Riko sighed. With all the players this tired, she didn't think a practice match would be possible. "Riiight...Everyone, you're dismissed!"

The first years literally had to peel themselves off the ground. The second years stood with some effort and the students filed into the locker room to shower and change to their school clothes as they got ready to go home. The last of the students left the gym and the lights went off.

Kise sat down next to Kuroko with two hamburgers in the corner of a resturant, empty except for them two and the employees of the resturant. "So what did you think about the team, Kuroko-cchi?"

Kuroko unwrapped her burger and took a small bite. After she swallowed it, she replied. "I just wish they don't become too powerful, like Mura-kun, Midorima-kun and Akashi-kun." She turned to look at a black car speed by outside the window, briefly shadowing half of her face.

"I feel the same way. They became too powerful for their own good. After their Awakening, they don't care about anything anymore, except winning." Kise took a sip from her straw and sighed.

"Aren't you the same, Ki-chan? You Awakened too." Kuroko turned away from the window and looked into Kise's eyes.

Kise smiled, put her hands on Kuroko's cheeks and squeezed them. "Yes, but I'm still your best friend, Kuroko-cchi. I won't leave you like those rough boys did." She stuck out her tougue hugged Kuroko. Kuroko hesitated and hugged her back.


	3. Morning with Ki-chan

Note: Bear with Kuroko a bit longer please, it's just I've always imagine Kuroko as someone shy, since his presence is so lacking in the anime. And last chapter, i left out Midorima in the list -dies of embarrasement-

Kise shook a mound in the blanket. She lived in the same apartment as Kuroko, since Kuroko is always oversleeping and can't be trusted to live by herself. She shook Kuroko again, who merely murmured in her sleep and turn on her side. Kise sighed to herself, and then smiled. She slowly lifted the covers until Kuroko was exposed and then jumped on Kuroko, tickling her.

Kuroko yelped and her head went up so quick, Kise barely got away from getting accidentally headbutted by Kuroko. "Ki-chan, why'd you do that? I was so warm..." Kuroko said, pouting.

Kise laughed and ruffled Kuroko's already messy shoulder length hair. Her usually smooth silky hair is sticking out all over her head, her eyes half closed with sleep. "You can't, Kuroko-cchi. We still have to go to school. Go get ready, I'm almost finished making breakfast."

At that last line, Kuroko's eyes shot open and she flew outside into the kitchen still in her pajamas. The pot was rumbling and thick black smoke poured out of it. Tentatively opening the cover, she peered inside. A brownish paste oozed in the center of the pot, bubbling. "Um, Ki-chan? What are you cooking..?"

Kise walked over to Kuroko. "What are you talking about? It's obviously eggs!" She looked inside the pot. "Oh... I absolutely have no idiot what happened." She looked at Kuroko with a extremely cute and innocent expression that melts Kuroko's heart. It's not possible to stay angry at her.

Kuroko yawned. She poured the brown paste down the sink, washed the pot and took out a pan instead. "Ki-chan, please, don't touch the pan until i get back," she begged. She ran back into her bedroom and hurriedly changed into her school clothes, a dark blue uniform accented with white and green, like Kise's. She ran back out to the pan, which has heated. She beated the eggs and poured the liquid into the the center, which rapidly turned from yellow to gold in color.

Kuroko lifted the pan with some effort and scraped the content onto a plate. She divided the egg in halves and poured sauce on it, handing it to Kise. "This is all i can manage to make in the short time we have left, sorry, Kise-chan." She smiled and ran into the bathroom to brush her hair and teeth while Kise set the table.

Kise went to the refrigerator and took out toast to go along with the eggs. Kuroko walked out of the bathroom, sat down and quietly began to eat. Suddenly, Kise's yellow phone rang. She watched as Kise answered the phone. Quietly eating her toast, she studied Kise's face as she talked.

"No, I'm sorry, i can't walk to school with you today. I'm busy today. Someone is already walking with me. No, i don't have a boyfriend. How do you know my phone number anyway?" She hung up and sighed.

"Whats wrong, Ki-chan?" Kuroko asked, although she thought she can predict what is happening.

Kise shrugged. "A couple of boys want to walk me to school. I've had twenty calls between when i woke up and when i woke you up." She chewed on her toast when the alarm clock rang. She got up and grabbed her bookbag. "Come on, Kuroko."

Kuroko swallowed her mouthful and grabbed her bag too. Together, they walked out the door with Kuroko locking it behind them. They both had keys.

Without warning, Kise sprinted ahead. Kuroko, caught off guard, still walked slowly, before she too started running. "Wait up, Ki-chan, I tire easily," she called, out of breath. Kise gave no sign of hearing, though she does slow down. By the time they got to school, Kuroko was panting hard, on the verge of collapse. "Why didn't we take the bus like we did yesterday, Ki-chan?" Kuroko asked weakly.

"Oh, sorry, Kuroko-cchi, I just want to run to school," she smiled. "We used to run to school in middle school, didn't we?"

Kuroko glared at her. "We both lived near Teiko!" she pouted. Seeing Kise continue to smile brightly, she gave up being angry, took Kise's hand and walked toward the school.


	4. Day at School

Note: Introducing a OC, who does nothing but make conversation...introducing Mikage Reiko ^^

The teacher's voice droned on and on in the front of the class. In the back, listening to the teacher's lessons, Kuroko's head dipped in sleepiness. Her head snapped back up as she heard the teacher starting to yell.

"Hey! You in the back? What in the world are you doing, sleeping in my class?" She looked guilty for a second, until she realized the teacher wasn't talking to her. He was yelling at the student in front of her. "I would like to speak with you after school." In front of her, she heard the student groan in despair and cracked a small smile. She was glad she wasn't the one caught.

Making a effort to stay awake, Kuroko continued to finish her work. Long before the bell rang, she was finished. She looked across the room at Kise. Kise was chewing on the end of her pencil in thought. However, before long, she too finished and learned back and stretched. She looked across the room, catching Kuroko staring and smiled. Kuroko quickly averted her gaze and looked out the window. Suddenly, the bell rang. Just before the teacher left for his next class, he reminded them, "Anything you didn't finish is homework."

Kuroko opened her book and read while she waited for the next teacher to start class. The room was a general buzz of conversation. She couldn't concentrate. Sighing, she closed the book and looked out the window, daydreaming and watching a two birds flit through the air. She could imagine hearing the them chirping as they performed complex movements, circling each other.

Kise watched the back of Kuroko's head as she stared at the birds, unaware of Kise looking at her. Feeling a tap on her shoulder, she turned and looked at her friend sitting in front of her. Mikage Reiko leaned across the desk to be heard above the noise and whispered in Kise's ear, "What are you doing after school today, Kise-chan?"

"I'm in the basketball club, Mikage-chan. Of course I'll be playing basketball," Kise told her. Mikage looked disappointed for a moment. Then she looked across at Kuroko's direction.

"What were you looking at before?" she asked, pointed at Kuroko without really seeing her.

Kise suppressed a sigh and said, "There, don't you see Kuroko sitting here?" The brown haired girl shook her head. "Blue, shoulder length hair. She's looking out the window." Now Kise pointed Kuroko out to her, Reiko saw her. With a intake of breath in surprise, she turned to Kise.

"Has she been there the whole time?"

Kise nodded. Reiko covered her eyes and turned back to look at the front of the room as the math teacher walked in.

Riko surveyed the line of students, dressed in practice uniforms. "Alright, lets complete that practice game we didn't have chance of do yesterday!" Riko split the group into groups of first years and second years. Hyuga, Isuki, Mitobe, Koganei, and Tsuchida were starting for the second years. Kise, Kuroko, Fukuda, Kawahara and Furihata were playing for the first years. They lined up in the center of the court and Riko threw the ball straight up in the air, blowing the whistle. The match has started.

**Note:** I'm in school, i wont update again until i get back. And for future romance, i **might** pair Kuroko with Akashi (idk how, but its requested) and Kise with Kagami. Emphasis on **MIGHT**. Once again, review with problems i might have to fix and suggestion ^^ cya. Oh yeah, sorry the chapter is so short QQ forgive me.


	5. Buzzer Beater

Note: I'll have the Generation of Miracles' eyes flicker briefly to a more "pure" color when they use their unique skills. Just a little idea I got while watching the anime.

At the same time, Mitobe and Kise launched into the air after the spinning basketball. Kise swept her hand backwards, hitting backwards toward, landing just as the ball touched Kuroko's hands. Before anyone could register anything their eyes saw, the ball entered the basket as Kise jammed it in almost lazily. As the ball bounced on ground, everyone stared. Finally, Izuki shook his head, attempting to clearing his head of any thoughts except about the game.

"Don't panic, we'll take a few points of our own now!" Izuki called as he attempted to rally the second years. He slowly advanced across the court, the ball landing with a thud each time he dribbled it. Suddenly, he sped up, passing Kawahara, who was trying to stop him. Without looking, he passed to the right, right into Hyuga's waiting hands as he waited right behind the three-point line, free of any guards.

"Don't get any ideas...ROOKIES," he said, as he tossed the ball high into the air...or at least, he tried to. As fast as a striking snake, Kise darted in front of him and jumped, smashing the ball into the ground. Kuroko materialized out of nowhere, and launched the ball into Kise's hands.

Kise took off across the court, all the players chasing after her. She skidded to a stop at the three-point point and adopted a stance exactly Hyuga's. Her bright yellow eyes briefly flickered to a slightly more golden hue as she threw the ball, which landed perfectly in the basket. Catching Kuroko's blue gaze, she laughed and cried out, "I did it, Kuroko-cchi!" Kuroko just smiled and said nothing, clearly not wanting to draw attention to herself.

Meanwhile, as Riko observed the match silent, the whistle fell out of her mouth. When did Kuroko appear on the court?! She blinked and when her eyes focused again, Kuroko was gone.

The second years were NOT happy campers. Mitobe lead the drive down the court, a fierce light of determination in his eyes, while Izuki was trying to coordinate the offense. "Okay, time to end your little play time," Hyuga declared, before assigning a double team of Izuki and Mitobe on Kise.

Try as she might, Kise could not shake her mark. Internally, she sighed. 'What they don't know is that I'm not the greatest threat,' she thought, 'Kuroko-cchi is.' That said, she didn't think that without a strong pillar backing her up, Kuroko wouldn't last very long. Sure enough, Koganei, Hyuga and Tsuchida didn't give a second glance at Kuroko as she tried desperately to stop their advance. The other first years didn't do much either. Basket after basket went in, with Kise managing to make a few points even though her double team clung like fleas to her.

At last with a score of 40-42, second years in the lead, victory seemed like a long shot for the first years as the timer ticked with ten seconds left. Kuroko's eyes deepened into a shade of sapphire as she concentrated. As Izuki made a precise pass at Hyuga, she put on a small burst of speed, intercepting the ball and running down the court.

"Wait, Kuroko!" Kise yelled, her panic so great, she briefly broke her habit. She knew how bad Kuroko's basketball skills were, or at least that's what she thought. Kuroko, faced with Koganei and Tsuchida, who managed to catch up to her, stopped dead, still dribbling. She made as if she was going to go pass their left to the basket, but stopped, crossing the ball over to her left hand, causing the quick change in direction to make her two guards lose their balance. She quickly sent the ball to her right hand again, hopped back over the three-point line and shot. The basketball arced over the clumsy attempts to stop it and sank into the basket. Riko's whistle dropped from her mouth for the second time that day, as the first years cheered for their victory with the buzzer beater.

"So...when did your skills improve so much, Kuroko-cchi?" Kise asked the blue haired girl sitting across from her, who was taking small bites out of her hamburger.

Kuroko looked up, giving one of her rare smiles. "You're not the only one who improved, Ki-chan, I did too!"

**PS:** did i make Kuroko's improvement seem too unrealistic? Review with more suggestions plox. I don't really know about the romance in this fanfiction. I wanted to focus on Kise and Kuroko's relationship with each other and the team. Eh...


	6. Beauty

Note: Presenting, the second time Kise becomes so worried, panicked or angry that she broke her habit of saying -cchi to Kuroko.

"Kuroko-cchi, wake up. Kuroko-cchi!"

Kuroko heard Kise trying to wake her up in a slightly whiny tone and decided to ignore her, pretending to sleep. That is, of course, because sleep ranks very high in her list of priorities indeed. Also, she was exhausted. She hasn't been so tired since she graduated from the terrifying workload Teiko forced on their regulars. It's the weekend, so why shouldn't she get rest. It wasn't even light outside yet. No one wakes as early as Kise, although with her job, its most certainly justified. Kise would most certainly drag her along when she went to work.

She felt her covers slowly being removed and tensed. Expected a tickling hand to come any second, she didn't expect Kise to try and lift her, bridal style out of her bed. She felt herself being lifted high and yelped. Kise gasped with effort, and then dropped her. Kuroko fell back on her bed, knocking the breath out of her.

Kise gasped, instantly regretting trying to wake up Kuroko in that manner. She was strong, but nowhere near the strength of a boy, and Kuroko's weight was too much for her. "Kuroko, I'm so sorry," she whispered, worried that Kuroko might have gotten hurt. She'll never forgive herself if that happened. She released a breath she didn't realize she was holding until Kuroko, obviously sleepy and unhappy, wrapped herself in blankets and tried to go back to sleep. Kise, filled with guilt decided to stop bothering Kuroko for now. 'One hour,' she decided. She'll let Kuroko sleep for one more hour before she went back to wake her up.

Unfortunately for Kuroko, who was having pleasant dreams about cuddling with Kise, the hour flew by way too quickly. Woken up by the light that filled her room as Kise quietly eased the door open to gently rouse her, making up for the rough treatment earlier, Kuroko decided to get up on her own. Opening her mouth in a yawn, she rubbed her eyes to clear it. Seeing her awake, Kise jumped on the bed and hugged Kuroko good morning. She affectionately kissed Kuroko on her cheek, saying, "Good morning, Kuroko-cchi~, do you forgive me?" She pleaded with her eyes; those sweet, yellow, irresistable eyes. Kuroko sighed, she was still a bit upset, but she wasn't the type to hold a grudge. Plus, she knew Kise didn't mean to drop her.

"Alright," Kuroko declared. Kise gave a sigh of relief, pulling some of her stray strands of hair back behind her ear. "However." Kise looked up. "Only, if you go shopping with me after you finish your job today!" Kuroko added.

Kise smiled, "Of course, anything for my dear Kuroko-cchi~"

Kuroko looked innocently at Kise. "Anything?" she asked. Kise pretended to think.

"Yes."

Kuroko looked at the tall ceiling of the model agency building. It was well lit. Even though Kuroko has been here dozens of time with Kise in middle school, she still get her breath taken away by the magnificence of the structure, even if her expression gave nothing away. A tall woman in heels clopped toward them. Kuroko noticed her immediately, distracted as she was. The modeling company has tried to recruit Kuroko as a model multiple times, but was turned down every time; she was too shy. Today was no exception.

"Hello, Tetsuki-san," Mai Nakahara greeted warmly, waving at the duo.

"Hello, Nakahara-san," Kuroko answered, bowing respectfully. Before Mai can ask her usual question, Kuroko answered. "I apologize, Nakahara-san, but I must refuse." She straighten, although she kept her head bowed.

Obviously disappointed, Mai nodded. "Well, that is indeed a shame." She looked at Kise, waiting quietly next to Kuroko. Beckoning with her hand, she led her away from Kuroko, before asking a passing worker to show Kuroko to the walkway audience, even though Kuroko knew the place like the back of her small hand from her multiple trips here. Kise looked back at Kuroko as she was towed away by Mai, smiling cheerfully until the door closed behind her.

Led through the corridors of the modeling building, she was led to a make up room. A army of professional workers was waiting to apply make up and do her hair to fit the fashion dresses she will be showing today.

As soon as she sat down, the fashion workers began to work on her appearance. Her long chest length hair was let free from her ponytail, the silky straight hair falling down behind the seat of her chair. Quickly, a woman began to work on it, combing and straightening the yellow locks, braiding the end of it together quickly with fast, nimble fingers.

Meanwhile, another woman began to work on her face, powdering her face with blush and darkening her eye lids and around her eyes with shadow. Personally, Kise didn't see the point of make up. In all the pictures she saw, the girl looked significantly better without make up than with. She opened her eyes, seeing her cherry red lips, light red blush and darkened eyes. She was looking at a copy of herself, yet not herself. She smiled and the girl in the mirror smiled too.

Beckoning to her from the changing room, Mai held up a pure white gown, decorated with a single red flower, at the top of a split of the side of the gown.

Minutes later, Kise found herself walking down another hallway. Arriving at a large door, attendants opened it and she carefully walked through to a red curtain. The curtain slowly drew open to reveal a medium sized audience. The seats were half filled with reporters, writers and random people invited to accompany them. Her eyes searched the seats for a light blue head. She found Kuroko sitting at the very back. Beside her sat a tall man with penetrating dark blue eyes, his arms around Kuroko's shoulders. She smiled, and as the music started playing, she confidently walk down the catwalk.

As she walked down the catwalk, her long hair flowing. Some strands were left intentionally unbraided and they drifted in the air in her wake. The white gown rippled, her slender arms moving back and forth with a rhythm, yet with a natural feel. In the split in the side of her gown, long legs occasional showing, gracefully moving. Multicolored lights spun behind her, setting her face in shadow and light.

She turned around, pivoting on a foot and spun in a single smooth motion, and walked back behind the curtain. The heavy red curtain closed, shutting off the applause from Kise's ears.

**Note:** Ah haha, sorry, i may have ranted a bit :P Please dont ask me to write anything mature XD. Keep the suggestions coming :3


	7. Roaring Tiger

Note: Bold words are in English english.

"Hey, hey, Kuroko-cchi," Kise asked, "how was I today?"

Kuroko looked up at Kise's face as she practically bounced as she walked. "You looked beautiful, Ki-chan. Did you not hear the applause?"

Kise shrugged. "I heard, but I wanted to know what you thought. By the way, what was Aomine-cchi doing with you?"

"Well, he knew that you work on the weekends, and that you drag me along with you, so he figured he'll find me there," Kuroko replied. She giggled, "He couldn't find me at first. He thought that I would blend in with the people in the front." She looked up at Kise again. "Remember your promise, Ki-chan?"

Kise smiled. "Yup"

The two girls walked down the streets, checking out various items along the way. Knowing how elusive Kuroko can be, Kise kept hold of her hand to prevent getting separated in the busy streets. "Kuroko-cchi, Kuroko-cchi, look!" Kise pointed at the glass display window showing several purses. Dragging Kuroko along, Kise practically ran toward the door.

Kuroko wondered why in the world she suggested shopping. She was wearing a blue purse that matched her hair. Her blue hair fell behind her neck and in front of her shoulders. He white T-shirt contracted the blue purse perfectly while her faded jeans enhanced the color.

"You're so cute, Kuroko-cchi," Kise said, almost fainting for the intense aura of cuteness radiating off of Kuroko, who didn't look very happy to be wearing a purse. "I think we should buy it!" Without asking anything else, Kise skipped toward the counter, dragging a reluctant Kuroko behind her, ignoring her protests. Minutes later, Kuroko was walking along with Kise in the busy streets with everything transferred from her jeans to her purse.

"There, our shopping has finished, Kuroko-cchi~" Kise said, skipping beside Kuroko. Kuroko didn't protest. She disliked crowded places.

"Ki-chan, where are we going next?" Kuroko asked, adjusting the strap of the purse that was digging into her shoulder uncomfortably.

Kise pretended to think. "How about the park? There's a basketball court there!" Kuroko didn't think a basketball court would be the first choice of any girl other than Kise and her, but she liked basketball.

"Sure!"

Kise looked around, trying to figure out the fastest way to the park, since walking through the streets would be slow. She pointed at a alley. "Let's go through that way, I think it would be faster!" Kuroko nodded and they took off through the alley. After ten minutes of alternating between running and walking, they went from urban to suburbs, where it was quieter. The sun has passed its highest point and was about to set.

Reaching the court, they found that it was taken. A single tall man with red as red as flame were playing against five other players. The man was skilled, more skilled than any of his opponents alone, but he was just one person. The score continued to draw apart.

Kuroko clenched her fists in silent fury. How dare five people gang up on one?! Tossing her purse at Kise, she ran forward and tried to help. "Hey wait, Kuroko-cchi!" Kise shouted, but Kuroko ignored her. Sighing, she ran after the blue haired girl.

Catching up with her at the entrance to the fenced in court, she tried to stop Kuroko from yelling, but was too late.

"You jerks over there!" Kuroko shouted, her voice echoing off the hard surfaces of the court.

Kise covered her eyes in despair.

One of the bullies looked over at the girls and called a halt to the game. The red haired man sat down, wiping sweat from his head with his shirt. Since they had come this far, Kise thought she might as well help out. She took a unopened water bottle out of her sports bag that doubled as a purse for her and tossed it to the red haired man. He caught it.

"**Thank you**" he called, before uncapping it. Taking a long drink, he sighed. Kise blinked at the sudden English. Her mind rushed to remember he English lessons but not before the man corrected himself. "Arigato," he called, correcting himself. She nodded, and was about to take Kuroko away when Kuroko cut in.

"We want to join this game," she stated. The bullies looked among themselves and sneered.

"Well, well, what do we have here," one of them said. "A few chicks wanting to join a men's game, eh?" He was about to refuse when another stopped him. He didn't see how two more weak girls can turn the tide. Plus, they look awfully cute.

"Of course you can, sweethearts. On one condition," he sneered. "If you lose, them we get to have our way with you."

Kise cringed, and was about to drag Kuroko away when Kuroko blurted out, "Fine."

The bullies' sneers widened.

Kise didn't see any way out and sighed. She took off her jacket and set their bags down, as did Kuroko. The red haired man's face was full of doubt as he looked up at the girls joining him.

"Well, since we will be playing together for now, we might as well get to know each other," he said. "What would be you girls' names?

"I'm Kuroko Tetsuki," Kuroko answered. She pushed a unhappy Kise forward. "She's Kise Ryouka."

"**I see**," the red haired man said distractedly. "Pleased to meet you. My name is Taiga, Kagami Taiga."

**P.S:** would anyone like to guess the result of the match? Keep the suggestions coming~ 3


	8. Sunset

Note: Impending violence, sorry, dont kill me :(

The game resumed. Kuroko passed the ball in, since the bullies made the latest basket. Kagami watched as Kise smashed the ball hard into the ground, causing it to bounce back up quickly, increasing the speed and her dribble and decreasing the chance of a steal. Met with two boys, she feinted to the right and immediately turned and dribbled to the left, stopping at the three-point line, still dribbling, Suddenly propelling herself forward, her eyes flickered briefly to a golden color as she drove to the basket, and as someone made a move to block her, she turned, dribbled to the right side of the goal and smashed the ball into the basket, shaking the pole, board and basket.

As the ball fell to the ground, the bullies felt fear in their hearts. They were having enough trouble with Kagami alone, and now here comes a girl who performed the exact same dunk as Kagami did 2 baskets ago. One of them, obviously the leader of the group snapped out of the shock and tried to drive the ball back up the court...only to have the ball knocked right out of his hands by a timid looking blue haired girl, who seemed to materialized out of thin air.

Kuroko, with the ball maneuvered around a guard and pass the ball into Kagami's hands, who jumped up high and dunked it with another backboard-breaking smash.

"F**K!" the leader of the bullies cursed as he ran back to get the ball. He grabbed the ball, and not bothering to pass it in, dribbled the ball down the court, seething and uttering swear words under his breath. Desperately, he tried to make a three pointer to try and even the score, ignoring his teammates as they tried to tell him to stop. As the ball left his hands, Kagami, with a huge leap smashed the ball into the ground, bouncing into Kise's hands. Her eyes flickering gold, she ran to the opposite three point line, adopting the sloppy form the bullies' leaders had used, and sent the ball into the basket. Having seven points scored on them in under a minute, the bullies lost heart. Except for the leader.

He looked for the nearest girl, the girl who had dared oppose him. His eyes locked on Kise, who was jogged back to defend against the ball, and yelling a curse, threw a punch at her face; not caring about the consequences.

Caught off guard, Kise could only shut her eyes, bracing herself for the blow that never came. Kagami deflected the fist, and flipped the man over on his stomach and smashing him into the ground, pinning his arms behind his back. Gasping hard from the adrenaline surge, he looked at Kise. "Are you okay, Ryouka-san?" he asked Kise, who was watching with one eye, as if still expecting the blow. She nodded and opened her other eye.

Kagami stood up, and kept a foot on the guy on the floor's arm, keeping him pinned down. "Now, would anyone else who would like to join him step forward?" he asked, with a menacing tone, glaring down the defeated men who just minutes ago were taunting him. Each shook their head and backed away slowly, and ran away, leaving their leader behind. Kagami took his foot off of the leader's arm and kicked him lightly.

"Go," he told him. The leader nodded and looked at his red eyes burning with fury, and ran off without a second glance back. Kagami sighed, left along with two girls he just met. "Sorry you had to see that, girls." He lied back on the floor and covered his eyes from the glare of the sun with his hand.

Kise nodded. She knelt next to Kagami, putting her hands on her lap and smiled gratefully at him, looking at his face, obscured by his large hand. "Thank you for saving me, Kagami-cchi."

Kagami uncovered one of his eyes, looking at Kise's smiling face. His heart had a fluttering feeling in it, but he ignored it. Instead, he asked,"Kagami-cchi?"

Kuroko walked toward them, kneeling next to Kise, answering the question for Kise,"She adds -cchi to the names of people she are close friends with, like me, or people she respects, like you.

Kise looked at Kuroko. "But I respect you too, Kuroko-cchi!" She pouted indignantly. Suddenly, she stood up. Extending a hand to Kagami to help him up. Puzzled, he took it hesitantly. Kise grinned, a cheerful, vibrant smile that could melt anyone's heart. "Now that those annoying bullies are gone, we have the court all to ourselves," she explained. "We might not see each other again, so it makes sense to have fun while we still can, right?"

Kagami grunted his agreement while Kuroko just nodded quietly. 'She was never a person of many words, not since...' Kise's thoughts trailed off.

She spun a basketball she produced from her bag on her fingers. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the ball spinning through the air to Kagami, who caught it and shot instinctively. The ball sank into the basket, producing a clear _swishing_ sound. Kise, ran under the basket and caught the ball, propelling it toward Kuroko, who dribbled back up the court and laid the ball into the basket, bouncing it off the backboard. Kise caught the ball as it fell straight down from the net, leaped up and dunking it backwards into basket, all three of them focusing only on the basket and the ball. Only when they collapsed with exhaustion, sweat running rivers down their bodies did they realized that the sun was setting, with no buses left to take them home.


	9. Good Night

Note: Kuroko, Kagami and Kise walks home~

The trio walked for over half an hour, making steady progress through the night toward Kise and Kuroko's shared apartment. They were planning to send Kagami home in a cab, because they left their phones at home. So far, none of them has said a word.

Kuroko didn't want to admit it, not even to herself. In fact, if you don't know her very well, you wouldn't have guessed that she is in fact, afraid of the dark. Her face, which normally shows very little emotion, still remain plain. Only the fact that her fingers were white from squeezing Kise's hand and her light quakes betrays the absolute terror the darkness brings. Funny thing is, she wasn't actually afraid of the darkness itself; she's only afraid of darkness slightly broken by a faint light. Oh, how like that dreadful night...

Kise, aware of Kuroko's fear pressed closer to her. She looked down at Kuroko's face, which gets lighter and darker as they neared and got farther away from the lamps. She looked up at Kagami, who seemed strangely worried as they walked side by side. "Whats the matter, Kagami-cchi?"

Kagami, shaken out of his thoughts by the question took a while to think before reluctantly answering. "Okay...the truth is, I'm lost."

Kise stopped in surprise. "You're lost? Don't you know where you live?" Kagami shook his head. Kise took a moment to think. Not wanting to pry on where Kagami lived, she asked a unexpected question. "Would you like to come over to our apartment for tonight then?"

Kagami looked surprised, and rightly so. "We literally just met a few hours ago, are you sure?"

Kise nodded, her mind made up. "Why not? It's not like you'll do anything to us...will you?" She gave Kagami a hard stare. Kagami quickly nodded. "Plus, it looks like Kuroko-cchi would love to have you along on our walk home," she said to herself, too quietly for anyone but her to hear.

For the first time since they left the well lit park, Kuroko spoke up. "I think we're here." Out of the darkness, a familiar black shape loomed into the sky. Quietly, as to not disturb early sleepers in the apartments, the trio tiptoed up the stairs. Kagami squinted into the darkness and shook his head. It must be his imagination. He followed the girls into their apartments house. Quietly closing the door and locking it, Kise went over to the television and turned it on. She held up a stack of disks to Kagami.

"Here, Kagami-cchi, take you pick." She left the stack with Kagami and went into her room. She came out with a towel and pajamas. "You two have fun, I'm taking a shower," she teased, sticking out her tongue and winking. She closed the door with a light click. Minutes later, the two still in the living room heard the shower head turn on.

Kuroko silently took off her jacket and put on her bunny slippers, walking toward the kitchen area to prepare dinner. Mentally calculating how much extra she would need to make, judging from Kagami's looks, she set about making dinner.

Kagami watched Kuroko for a bit as she put on a apron with a bunny on it, and then turned his attention on the television. The stack of CD had NOTHING but basketball related subjects. As expected...kind of, of such a good basketball player. Kuroko was somewhat average, but he sensed great power from her. On the screen, he saw a bottom up shot of a man dunking with ferocious force, but his mind wasn't in it. Looking around the room, he saw the walls covered with posters of famous basketball players, bunnies and models. All of a sudden, his stomach growled and he stiffened. His face reddened and he coughed awkwardly, even though he didn't think Kuroko heard.

Kuroko, all the way across the room, heard the rumbling of Kagami's stomach. Holding in a small burst of laughter, she turned her head and looked at Kagami, smiling sweetly. "Just hang on, Kagami-kun, the food should be done in a few more minutes." She turned her attention back on her cooking, which sent delicious aromas all over the apartment house.

Kise, hot water on her back, was deep in thought. Gently, she washed her hair with peach scented soap, distracted. All her thoughts kept going back to a person. Kagami. Her heart quicken each time a image of him popped into her mind. His fiery red hair and eyes. His well developed muscles. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, as she did many times before, unsuccessfully. She placed a hand over her chest, pressing against her breasts. She felt her heart pounding against her hands, quick and light. Her face felt hot, and she imagined that if she looked into the mirror right now, it would be red. She turned off the water and stood there, hair streaming down her smooth skin, dripping off the end of her long, yellow hair. Reaching out, she slid the shower door open, dried and dressed herself in loose fitting pajamas. Piling all her clothes in a basket, she reached for the door, feeling her heart slowing back down to its normal pace.

"Hello~" she said, walking out of the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel. She looked at Kuroko on the floor watching TV, looking bored...or rather, emotionless, and at Kagami, eating at the table. Kuroko looked up as she walked out and waved. She got up from the carpet and pulled Kise to the dinner table.

"Quick, eat before he finishes it all!" Kuroko urged, watching to food disappear at a prodigious rate.

Kise quickly filled her bowl and Kuroko's and settled down to eat. The meal quickly turned into a battle of chopsticks as each person struggled to grab something for themselves, not for food, but for the fun of it. By the end of the meal, all three people sat back on the couch, laughing and joking.

The rest of Saturday flew by. Kuroko took her shower, and Kagami after her. While Kise and Kagami talked and laughed about basketball, Kuroko washed the laundry. Kagami had to sleep without clothes, to the amusement of the girls, since none of their clothes can fit him. At last, the lights turned off, Kagami sleeping on the couch, who took his clothes at the last minute so Kise could wash them when she wakes up. Kuroko and Kise each went to their respective bedrooms, quietly bidding each other good night.

**P.S:** Moar suggestions and reviews? I'll try to update at least once every day if i can, but thats going to make my ideas run out like water :P. I realized the chapter 10 would be too much for the K+ rating, might make a new story for it if i can.


	10. Boy Next Door

Note: Sorry, this is going to be a short chapter :P

Kise walked out to Kuroko's bedroom with a tearful Kuroko close behind. Kagami was already up, cooking in Kuroko's place, since apparently, out of the three, Kise is the only one that couldn't cook. Kise woke up before anyone else to do the laundry, and Kagami now wore same clothes he wore yesterday, but it was clean.

"Yo, morning, girls," he greeted. Seeing Kuroko's teary face, he asked, concerned, "What's wrong, Tetsuki-san?" To Kise, he asked, "Why is Tetsuki-san crying?"

Kise shook her head, "She had a nightmare last night. Don't ask, Kagami-cchi." She hugged the blue haired girl. "What are you making, and why do you know how to cook?" She pouted, thinking of her own inability to make something edible.

"I live by myself, so i have to be able to cook something, or I'll starve," he grinned. Kise shrugged, sat Kuroko down on the couch and poured her a cup of water. She sat down down next to Kuroko.

"Here, Kuroko-cchi," she cooed, handing Kuroko the cup, who drank it. Slowly, her hiccups faded.

"Ki-chan, can you please stop babying me? I'm sure I'll be alright," Kuroko said, smiling weakly at Kise, drying her face on her sleeve. Kise cocked her head.

"Well, if you say so~," Kise said cheerful, now that she thought Kuroko has recovered. In the kitchen, Kagami filled two plates with curry and rice.

"Okay, breakfast is ready!" he called. Helping Kuroko up, Kise bounced over to the dining table. She inspected the normal-looking curry, and liking what she saw, she sat down and took a spoonful.

"This is good!" she said in surprise. Kuroko tried it too, nodding agreement. Meanwhile, Kagami filled an extra large plate of it, pouring it down his throat. Kise looked on, mystified that his throat wasn't burnt. Soon, the meal was over and all three leaned back on their chairs, satisfied with the food. Kagami let out a large burp, covering it when he saw Kise and Kuroko glaring at him.

"Okay, I'm going back to the park to see if I can backtrack home," Kagami announced. He got up and gathered his stuff. Kise and Kuroko stood up too.

"We're coming with you," Kuroko said.

"It's only fair that we know where you live too," Kise added.

Kagami nodded in agreement, and the three walked out the door. There, in the bright daylight, Kagami turned and banged his head on the wall of the apartment houses.

"Kagami, whats wrong?" Kise asked, confused and concerned.

Kagami pointed at the door next door. "That," he declared, "is where I live." He took up his keys and unlocked the door, inviting the girls in. "I moved in yesterday in the morning from America. As soon as I finished moving in, I went to the court. No wonder this place was so familiar last night!"

The girls looked dumbfounded. They're new friend lived right next door. Finally, Kuroko did something she hasn't done in a year. She laughed. Kise looked at her friend in horror, afraid she has gone mad. Kuroko rolled on the floor, hold her stomach in pain as she laughed. Kagami looked on mournfully, knowing his absolute failure at life is what caused the laughter. Finally, Kuroko calmed down enough to talk. "Your...your house...was right next...door...the whole," Kuroko managed to make out, before she collapsed in laughter again.

Laughter is contagious. Before long, Kise was laughing at Kagami too, though not nearly as hard. Kagami managed to crack a smile, after all, one doesn't just laugh at himself, do they? Laughter slowly fading away, Kuroko, as her usual composed self but with a slight smile, stood up.

"Thank you for having us, Kagami-kun," she said, bowing. Kise did likewise, replacing -kun with -cchi. Before they could leave, however, Kagami stopped them.

"Would you like to play basketball with me again?"

Answer obvious, the girls looked at each other and at him. "Yes!"


	11. Transfer Student

Note: By the way, I've never fallen in love before, so can someone who has tell me about it so i can actually make this realistic to a degree?

Kuroko yawned sleepily, but got up anyway. It wasn't like Kise was going to let her sleep any longer anyway. She swung her feet off the bed and stretched, yawning again. 'I don't want to go to school,' she thought, repeating the words every student thinks when they wake up on a weekday. She brushed her teeth in the bathroom, and then washed her face with freezing water to wake herself up. Combing her hair until it was somewhat straight, curling only in the end of the strands, she walked to her bedroom door.

Cracking the door open a bit, she watched Kise prepare breakfast. After the black goo accident, Kuroko took every opportunity to teach her how to cook. Kise, somehow noticing her, called without even looking back, "Come here, Kuroko-cchi, it's time for breakfast~."

Disappointed at being caught once again, Kuroko obediently walked over to Kise and helped her carry the plate of hamburgers stuffed with eggs, ham and tomatoes to the table. People didn't usually notice her because of her passive misdirection even when looking at her, let alone with her back to Kuroko. Settling down to eat, she noticed Kise was smiling. "Why are you so happy today, Ki-chan?" she asked the blonde.

"Just happy to be back playing basketball seriously again~," Kise answered, half singing

Kuroko looked confused. "But," she protested, "we played in the weekend-!" Kise put a finger against Kuroko's lips, cutting her off.

"I mean as a team, like in Teiko," she corrected, smiling the whole time.

Kuroko thought about it for a second and nodded, "Me too." Finishing their breakfast, the two girls headed out to school, noticing they haven't seen Kagami since last night.

Kagami stood in front of the classroom, towering over the the homeroom teacher. He was really bored. "Class, this is Kagami Taiga, transferring back to Japan from the States. He will be joining you in your class from now on," the homeroom teacher introduced. The female half class erupted into chatter, while the male glared in jealousy. Over the general talk, he caught some phrases, mostly questions.

"How tall are you?"

"Do you play basketball?"

"Do you know English?"

Kagami thought the last question was kind of stupid. How can someone go to school in the United States for seven years without learning English? He would never be very good at it, scoring low grades on it like he does for math, science, geography... but he can still speak it!

"Are you joining the basketball team?" He looked up at the question, looking for the person who asked it. His eyes locked on the source of the voice and saw...Kise. Suddenly, he wasn't bored anymore. He smiled at Kise and she waved back, subtly. Finally, the teacher got the class to calm down.

"Alright, Kagami-kun, take a seat."

All the girls went wild, asking him to sit by her. Kagami merely went toward Kise, who had moved to the window to sit next to Kuroko neared the window. All around her were empty seats, but right beyond that empty ring, most of the boys in the class gathered, trying to be as near the two beauties of the class as possible.

Initially, the boys tried to stop Kagami walking through, but with a single clear command from Kise, a single phrase of "Let him pass through", the resistance stopped, and Kagami took a seat next to Kise. Seeing this outrage, the girls flew into fury, seeing how Kise, once again, stole the boy. This time, it wasn't just any boy. It was the MOST HANDSOME boy in the class, with his tall height, his queer red hair, and his muscles. Kagami relaxed, putting his hands behind his head, smiling to himself. This school year will be very interesting, and very exciting.

P.S: Sorry for short chapter 11 :( Anyone with experience in romance PM me and advise me in the "romantic" parts of the stories? Like always, review and suggest stuff that you may want to see in the story~. The rest of the GoM is coming in later than i thought... mostly because i didnt think the first few weeks of school will take so long. Spread word of this fanfic plox :3


	12. A Leaping Tiger

Note: Sorry for the short chapters. I think they will continue being short until i reach the Inter-high matches :/

Sneakers squeaked on the gym floor as each member of the team fought for the ball. Kuroko's eyes flickered sapphire as she lowered her presence to the lowest she can and hit the ball into Kise's hands. Moving like a flash of golden lightning, Kise flew across the court, leaving all the other members of the teams far behind. She jumped halfway between the basket and the free throw line, dunking with ferocious force.

A whistle blew. Kise looked at Riko, then at Kagami stand next to her, watching the practice game awkwardly. "Right, meet Kagami!" Riko called. The team ran toward them and gathered in a semi-circle around Riko and Kagami. Kagami stood taller than the rest of the team, his dark red hair and red eyes, made him stand out, like Kuroko and Kise.

"Nice to meet you!" Kagami shouted, bowing.

"He is joining our basketball team," Riko said, "we'll let him join the first years. They seem to be falling behind. Let's see what he can do."

Kise and Kuroko, at the moment, had the exact same thoughts: spoken like a person who's never seen Kagami play.

As soon as Kagami joined, the match became completely one sided. Moving almost as fast as Kise, more powerful and taller, the difference of him joining the team was evident.

"Guard him!" Hyuuga shouted, as Kagami charged the basket for the fifth time, dunking over the two people under the basket with ease. Hyuuga caught the ball and passed it to Izuki. All of the second years ran back down the court to the first years' basket. Izuki's eyes lost all color, becoming pale for a second, and passed the ball to Hyuuga passing behind him without looking.

"Eagle eye," Kise thought. It was one of the few things Kise could not copy, for it was something beyond her capacities as a basketball player. Hiding behind the already set screen by Izuki, Hyuuga jumped, and threw the ball, landing perfectly in the basket.

"Don't get too proud, rookies!" Even as he said that, he knew that without the founder of the Seirin basketball team, they didn't stand a chance against the powerful first years.

Checking that no one was watching, she caught the ball, spun on one foot, whirling the ball like a cyclone, letting go after a complete turn. The ball blasted across the field, straight into Kise hands. Wincing, stepped back once, twice and jumped, dunking the ball into the basket before she stumbled into the third step and committing a traveling foul.

Despite strengthening her hands all summer with Kuroko trying to catch a Cyclone Pass, her hands still gets sore after receiving one.

Caught up with running back to defend their basket, only to have a ball blow pass them and into the basket, all the second years' jaws dropped in shock. Looking back at Kuroko, she gazed back innocently. No one, not even Izuki with his Eagle Eye saw the pass. No one except for Kagami, Kise and Riko. Riko's eyes narrowed, studying the small little blue haired girl, looking innocent.

Desperate to get the points back, Izuki tried a fast break. He threw the ball at Hyuuga across court. As soon as the ball left his hands, Kuroko appeared in front of him, her eyes glowing blue. She hit the ball between his legs, to Kagami's waiting hands behind Izuki. Izuki, stunned, could only stand there as Kagami passed the rest of the second year team, bowling over Mitobe, Koganei and Tsuchida, unstoppable as a leaping tiger.

Riko decided she didn't need to see any more. Quickly, she sent a text message on her phone, stood up and blew the whistle. The players stopped. "Okay, good. We'll continue for about a week like this before we actually go into muscle training, which will be mixed in with scrimmages until the Inter-high Tournaments. Any questions?" Everyone nodded. "Dismissed!"

In a dark hospital room, a figure picked up his brown phone. He flipped it open, quickly reading the message on it.

"There are three new talented members joining our team this year. We hope you can make it to the Inter-high Tournaments."

He smiled sadly and leaned back against his pillow. He didn't think he would be able to play in the Inter-high. He set his phone back by the bedside table, adjusted his knee, suspended in the air.

**P.S**: "Yay for Kagami joining Seirin~" Kise cheered.  
>Who is the figure in the hospital bed, and what does he have to do with the future of the team? ( You guys know already, dont you T^T )<p>

Review with comments and suggestions plox 3 Spread this fanfic all over so i feel assured that people are still reading and that im not just writing to myself plox :3


	13. Seirin vs Tōō: Tip Off

uroko sat the the back of the bus taking them to Tōō Academy with Kise and Kagami. She sat by the window with Kise on the outside and Kagami in the seat opposite. Watching the scenery go by, she felt a unexpected thrill. She was going to see Aomine again! Beside her, Kise were chatting away about basketball.

"So, who do you think are the better players? Those people in the NBA in general or the Generation of Miracle?" Kise asked Kagami.

"Hard to say, considering you never played against each other before. They probably think it's below them to play against high schoolers though," Kagami grinned, imagining a playoff between a NBA team against five Kises.

"You realize that not all of us plays like me, right? My speciality is copying moves with greater speed and power. Since we'll be playing against Aomine-cchi, his speciality is unpredictable speed and agility, along with the ability to make shots without form anywhere within the three point line."

Kagami whistled. "Sounds impressive, but I find it hard to believe there are many players better than you."

"But it's true! Of the six of us, even Kuroko-cchi is better than me, right?" Kise nudged Kuroko, bringing her out of her daydream.

"I disagree. My skills are that of a average player, except for my ability to pass. Without a teammate, I'll be at a disadvantage."

Kise frowned. "But, but-" She was cut off by the screech of the bus' tire as it stopped in front of a large high school. Since it was after school, there was very little people walking around.

Filing into large gym of the high school, Seirin saw multiple courts seperated with large heavy nets hanging down from the ceiling. There were so many players on the Tōō team that they practiced in all five of the isolated courts, practicing their shots, one on ones, dribbles and others. Their starters had a court all to themselves, and expecting Seirin, were performing warmups and practice shots. Aomine was nowhere in sight.

Harasawa, their team's coach walked toward the arrive Seirin players. He shook Riko's hand. "Welcome to Tōō High," he said. "Meet our starters." His hands indicated a man of average height with glasses. "Imayoshi, our point guard."

"Hello," Imayoshi greeted with a heavy Kansai accent.

Harasawa pointed to a white-ish haired player even taller than Kagami."Wakamatsu, center."

"We'll definitely beat you," Wakamatsu promised.

The coach pointed again to a small timid boy. "Thats Sakurai, shooting guard."

"I'M SORRY!" Sakurai yelled, while Seirin looked on, confused. What is he apologizing for?

"Our manager, Momoi is out getting Aomine, who seems to be running late. No need to wait for him, I think. Afterall, I'm positive we'll beat you even without Aomine." Even as Harasawa said that, he nodded at Kise, acknowledging her strength. "Even with you here."

None of Tōō's people felt Kagami rage as he walked with the rest of the team to the changing rooms. "Beat us without their ace? How dare he..." he muttered under his breath. The last words were cut off as Kuroko stepped on the back of his shoe, making him trip. He whirled around, self defense mechanisms kicking in, ready to punch the person who tripped him. Seeing Kuroko behind him, he quickly turned back around, trying to keep calm as Kuroko continued to look innocent.

As the team all finished changing, Kise and Kuroko joined the boys and Riko in the boys' locker room. Riko was discussing the game plans as the two walked in.

"Alright, we must take advantage of the fact that Aomine, their best player, and Momoi, the genius manager isn't here to pull ahead as much as we can. Kagami, on defense, you take center and block cuts. Kise, you take charge of offense. Kuroko, stay down and try to make your misdirection last as long as you can. We'll try to sub you in and out to drag out the misdirection's effective time. Hyūga, try to make all your three pointers, and Izuki, make the best of your Eagle Eye to make the pass that result in the fastest basket, but don't take too many risks. Mitobe, when you sub for Kuroko, we'll switch to man to man. Kagami, you'll take care of the tip off. Everyone clear?"

All the boys and girls nodded. With that, they filed out of the room onto the court. As the two teams approached each other, Kuroko subconciously tugged on his wristband and Kagami rubbed the ring he hung around his neck. Kagami approached Wakamatsu in the center of the court as Harasawa threw the ball straight up into the air.

Note: Until i remove "Broken Computer" I'll continue to update slower than usual, but I'll try hard to update as much as I can, as i share my computer with a extremely selfish brother, and this is HIS computer. Love you all, thanks for continuing to support me by reading even after such a long time of not hearing from me (heart)


	14. Seirin vs Tōō: Silhouette

The two tallest players on the court jumped high into the air after the ball. Kagami, despite being 3 centimeters shorter than Wakamatsu almost beat him, but the height difference was too much. Wakamatsu got his hand around the ball, hitting it forward to Imayoshi. Kagami swore under his breathe, but he knew he lost fair and square, so he couldn't really complain. In fact, he was beginning to feel excitement he hadn't felt since he left the States.

The feeling of triumph that Tōō felt was shortlived. As Imayoshi tried to cut to the basket to make a quick lay up and pull ahead in the game, Kagami silently, but swiftly ran up beside him and hit the ball out of the air just as it left Imayoshi's hands.

"What? How did he get here so fast so soon after that tip off?" Imayoshi wondered, staring at Kagami's form as it rose above him. "He's almost as fast as Aomine!"

Kagami landed beside him with a thud and ran off toward Tōō's side of the court. Kise passed the ball to Izuki and Seirin went on the offensive. Dribbling quickly toward the basket, Izuki activated his Eagle Eye, his pupils momentarily loosing all color. Seeing a clear path to Kuroko, whom noone was guarding, he threw the ball at her. Kuroko seemily randomly smacked the ball into the ground, and it bounced into Kagami's hands. Wakamatsu, in a position to intercept a pass from Izuki to Kagami, was out of position to stop Kagami from cutting to the basket.

Reach the basket, Kagami pushed strongly off the ground, preapring to the dunk the ball, but Wakamatsu wasn't done. He pivoted on one foot and chased after Kagami, his long legs allowing him to almost catch up to Kagami. As Kagami stopped and prepare to jump, he caught up and jumped at the same time as him. As Kagami brought the ball toward the basket, Wakamatsu's hand reached out and pushed it away. Exerting themselves, the two players hung in the air, trying to overpower the other. Finally, Kagami, who had jumped first, began to fall, and as he fell, he pulled the ball down with him at a angle. The ball slammed into the basket, shaking the frame. Wakamatsu fell to the ground, and Kagami extended a hand toward him.

Catching his eye, Wakamatsu grabbed the hand, pulling himself up with Kagami's help. "I won't lose next time," he promised, as Kagami passed him on his way back to defend. Kagami stopped, turned and nodded. Wakamatsu watched for one more second, and followed Imayoshi as Tōō charged down the court, impatient to grab the points back and even the score. The hope was for naught, however, for Seirin retaliated against the offense with a tight defense. Kagami towered over the rest of the team as he stood firm in the center of the paint. Seirin set up a zone defense, with Kuroko and Izuki in the sides and Kise with Hyūga in the front.

Even against this firm barrier, Tōō continued to try and get a basket. Imayoshi, with just the briefest glance, tossed the ball behind his back to Sakurai, who immediately stopped and took a shot.

"Too slow!" Hyūga yelled. He jumped up and blocked the three pointer.

"I'm sorry!" Sakurai cried, to no one in particular. One would assume it was to his teammates for getting blocked, but a second later, he made another outburst. "I'm sorry I'm alive!"

Everyone in Seirin stopped at stared at him. Even Hyūga stopped dribbling and held the ball to stare at him. As the court came back to life, Hyūga tossed the ball to Izuki.

Izuki attempted to dribble toward Tōō's basket, but before he took more than too steps, Imayoshi scooped the ball out of his control mid-dribble. Cutting toward the open basket confidently, he didn't even see Kuroko coming at him until she broke his dribble, stealing the ball and bouncing it toward Kise. With the ball, Kise sped down the court unopposed with everyone after her. However hard they tried, however, Tōō couldn't stop her lay up.

Annoyed, Imayoshi held up a finger. "We're taking this back, one shot at a time!" He took off back down the court, stopping at the three as soon as Wakamatsu was under the basket with Kagami and did a fadeaway shot. He was going too fast, however, and stopping suddenly made him loose his balance. The ball hit the rim and bounced up. His squinted eyes widened a bit. "Rebound!" he called. All the players started toward the basket, but Kise and Kuroko was nowhere in sight. Seirin was outnumbered on the rebound.

Wakamatsu and Kagami both jumped up. Kagami tried to swat the ball out of the basket, but Wakamatsu's slightly greater power jammed the ball back into the basket, resulting in Tōō's first basket of the game.

As soon as the ball hit the ground, Kuroko picked up the ball. Twisting and pivoting on one foot, she spun. Her hair whipping around into her face, she twirled a complete circle before launching the ball straight across the court, smashing into Kise's hands as she waited under the basket.

Kise felt the ball hit her hands as she tried to catch it with both hands. Her hands snapped back and she stumbled back a step from the force. She jumped, and dunked the ball. By now, the rest of the team was almost used to seeing the Cyclone Pass send the ball blasting across the court, but they weren't the one catching it. She could not get used to the force no matter what. Still, Tōō stood still, stunned, since Momoi didn't feel the need to inform them about Kuroko's ability to throw the pass.

Shaking their head, Imayoshi once again led a offense. Circulating the ball throughout the team, Tōō prevented the the carrier of the ball from being double-teamed. As the ball reached Imayoshi, some sixth sense made him hold the ball high. A pale hand appeared from behind him, thrusting into the place the ball was a instant ago. Kuroko materialized behind him as he looked, but as he is distracted, Kise's hand sped toward the ball.

"Watch out!" Wakamatsu shouted. Imayoshi's eyes instantly shifted, and dribbled away from the girls, jumping sideway, shooting the ball, swishing through the net. Kise instantly turned, and sprinted toward Tōō's basket. Kuroko ran too, toward the ball.

Spinning, she once again, activated the Cyclone Pass. The ball blasted toward the other end of the court with much greater force than before, repelling Imayoshi's hand easily and painfully, barely slowing.

Closing her eyes, preparing for the pain that was sure to follow when the ball hits her hands, Kise held out her arms, bracing herself. She knew that not many people can catch the Cyclone Pass, let alone a girl, even a strong one like her; she wanted to prove herself as a light bright enough to draw out Kuroko's ability. She also knew that Kuroko wouldn't have thrown that pass if she knew that her best friend's arms couldn't catch another one of those high power passes she developed with the male members of the Generation of Miracles.

The pain never came. She opened her eyes, seeing Kagami's large hand in front of her, holding the ball. "Don't push yourself, Kise," Kagami growled, and tossed the ball to Kise. She threw it without looking, bouncing the ball against the backboard into the basket. She smiled at Kagami, a bright cheerful smile full of thanks and... love.

The game continued, and no matter how hard Tōō tried, they couldn't defeat a team with two players on the level of the Generation of Miracles. Seirin is clearly dominating one of the three crown schools of Tokyo. As the score hit 50:25, the door to the court flew open, the light silhouetting a tall man with messy, spiky hair, and a girl beside him with long flowing hair reaching her lower back.

Note: Kagami hasn't awaken his latent jumping ability in the first paragraph, in case you're wondering why he lost the tip off.  
>Did you guys miss me while i took my little unplanned, unfortunate break? Thanks for supporting me, and review with comments, questions and suggestions~<p> 


	15. Seirin vs Tōō: Siblings

Aomine walked into the court with Momoi following close behind. His mouth opened in a huge yawn, tears forming on the corners of his eyes as he pressed his eyelids together. Wiping it, he went and sat on the bench, eyes still half closed. Momoi sat down beside him.

Harasawa stood over him. "Momoi, what took you so long to get Aomine?"

Momoi smiled awkwardly, answering him. "Aomine-kun went to sleep as soon as he got home. It took me a while to get him up. He only got up because I told him there was a practice match today. Speaking of the match, how is the game going?" She looked at the scoreboard, surprised that Tōōwas falling behind by their own score.

"Not exactly going well, it appears that with Kise here, we cant beat them."

Beside them, Aomine yawned again. "Kise is no match for me..." He headed toward the locker room, and stopped dead. "Hey, no one told me Tetsuki was here too." He waved at Kuroko.

Kuroko smiled, but didn't wave. But then, she never waves. "Hello, onii-sama." Beside her, Kise waved to Aomine, but when she didn't get a wave back, she pouted and turned away.

Harasawa was surprised. He didn't think that the tiny girl in Seirin who could do only passes would be the Miracle of Generation's ace's younger sister. Turning to Momoi for a answer, she replied. "Even though they have different last names, they are brother and sister. When they were in third grade, their parents had a huge fight and divorced. Kuroko went with her mother and Aomine, his father." She sat back, thinking about her friend. "Kuroko-chan is a intellectual genius. Even though she was born a year later than Aomine, she caught up in her third grade year. She always have had a weak body, though and is constantly sick in her childhood years. She didn't even start playing until fifth grade, one year before she joined Teiko."

Harasawa nodded, impressed that such a girl could be a regular in Teiko for three years. He noticed Aomine continue to chat with Kuroko, whom he hasn't seen since they graduated middle school. "Aomine, go change and warm up. We'll wait for you." Aomine glanced back, took a huge sigh and reluctantly turned and walked toward the locker rooms. As the door shut, Tōō and Seirin headed toward the benches.

"Good job pulling ahead, boys. We just need to keep this lead if we can. Now that Aomine-kun and Momoi is back, they will have a boost in offensive and defensive power. In fact, now that Momoi is back, they will have the most up to date information on us, except for maybe Kagami." Riko stopped talking, remembering the genius mind of Tōō's manager, collecting so much information and analysing it that she could accurately predict growth patterns. Riko looked toward Tōō's bench, where Momoi was showing her team a folder, most likely information on Seirin.

The locker room door flew open and everyone looked up. Aomine walked out, stretching his arms and neck, cracking his knuckles. He reached Tōō's bench. "Aomine Daiki, number 5, reporting." Haraswaw nodded. He called for the game to resume.

Tōō, who had the last basket scored on them, got the ball first. Imayoshi grinned evilly. He tossed the ball to Aomine, who continued to slowly dribble up the court. "Come on at me, Seirin. To pull ahead like this, you can't be _all_ bad. Except for you, of course, Tetsuki. You're awesome." He winked at Kuroko, who stared blankly back. He laughed, and casually cross the ball over to his other hand, barely looking at Izuki as he attempted to steal it.

Missing his intended target, Izuki lost his balance. Taking advantage of that, Aomine suddenly lowered his center of gravity. Swaying, he crossed over again, and passed Izuki easily. Meeting Hyūga, he stopped momentarily, faking to the left. Immediately, he turned, leaving the ball behind and scooped it up with his right hand, dribbling past Hyūga. Meeting the resistance of Kagami, he stopped dead of his high speed dribbling, immediately jumping back out of Kagami's reach and tossed the ball, scoring a basket.

The rest of Tōō's team that was on the bleachers cheered wildly as their ace crushed Seirin's defenses. While the rest of his team was going back to defend, Aomine slowed slightly as he passed Kagami. He whispered into his ear as he passed. "Are you her new light? If you are, your light is too dim. You're not worthy of my sister's shadow." He continued to run toward the basket.

Kise concentrated hard. She couldn't copy Aomine's style, but she can copy specific movements. She hoped it would be enough. Izuki sent her the ball and as soon as her hands touched the ball, she sprinted forward, repeating Aomine's actions perfectly, but with Sakurai and Wakamatsu as victims. Reach Aomine, she immediately stopped, jumping backwards and attempted a fadeaway shot. That did not go in.

"Really? After a summer of practicing, is copying me to this extent all you can do?" Aomine teased as he jumped, blocking the shot. "You need to get better. You're too slow and predictable." As Kise took up a defensive stance in front of him, he continued the advise. "You turn too slowly, and you fumble the ball on high speed maneuvers."

That said, he bent over, moving the ball to the side and behind the back, ready to get pass Kise. Suddenly crossing over to his left hand, Kuroko's hand swiped the air the ball was a moment ago. "Nice try imouto-sama~", he chided. Kuroko looked unfazed. With a quick burst of speed, he got past the two girls, almost slamming into Kagami standing behind Kise.

"Not getting pass me this time!" Kagami vowed, his eyes blazing.

"Rookies, they're always like this; all brave and excited...until I crush them," Aomine muttered to himself. Louder, he glared at Kagami lazily. "I told you. You're light is too weak. Stay off my sister." Kuroko stared at Aomine, before putting her hand to her face. Kagami obviously liked Kise, not her. She had no idea what her brother was thinking. She heaved a huge sigh. At that, Aomine looked at her, dropping the ball from his dribble. "What? Why. Did i say something wrong?"

Kagami reached for the ball, but Aomine quickly snatched the ball up again, resuming his dribble. Running down the court again with Kise, Kagami and Kuroko in pursuit, Aomine randomly threw the ball at the basket from way behind the three point line. Immediately, he charged toward the basket.

Kagami had no time for anyone except Aomine...except for Kise of course. As much as he disliked Aomine, he acknowledge his strength. In his heart, a fire flared up momentarily. He will reach for that strength, and then surpass it. In his mind, the motion of Aomine throwing the ball, and running for the alley-oop himself was ingrained into his conciousness.

The alley-oop didn't quite worked out like it should have. The ball went straight through the basket with a clean swish. Aomine skidded to a stop, tripped and fell. He got back up and looked at his team with a awkwardly blank expression on his face. "It never happened" was written all over.

Kuroko merely turned away again, but Kise suspected that she was holding in laughter.

Note: Aomine is gunna be nice to Kise, and REALLY nice to Kuroko, to the point of adoration. Deal wif it T^T


	16. Seirin vs Tōō: Aomine's Strength

The score now 50:30, Tōō is steadily catching up to Seirin. Hyūga once again led the offensive. He received the ball from Izuki and chaarged down the court to Tōō's basket. As Aomine made to move toward him, he passed the ball. Catching the ball, Kise faced up with Aomine. Tension crackled between them as they stood assessing and predicting the other's movement. Finally, Kise lunged with the ball to Aomine's right, slammed the ball between Aomine's legs and moved past him on his left. Aomine, however, followed the movement with ease. He put his hand behind him, catching the ball as it bounced up. Kuroko, determined not to fail again, hit the ball as Aomine brought it up and prepared to dribble back towards Hyūga.

Hyūga caught the ball. To his left, he saw Sakurai running towards him. He held the ball in triple threat position as Sakurai stopped in front of him. He prepared to jump and shoot and Sakurai jumped too to stop him. Hyūga bent down again and dribbled by him as Sakurai fell back down, helpless to stop him. Once past him, Hyūga shot again. It was a trick! As he brought the ball up, Sakurai's hand appeared over him, tipping the ball out of his hands.

On the bench, Momoi's eyes narrowed as she continued to take down notes. Riko looked at her. Last year, Hyūga would have just shot, and not faked and dribble. To someone not used to his movement, it would be confusing. Sakurai reacted too fast for it to be unexpected. Silently, Riko cursed Momoi and her F-cup and her intellectual ability.

Thankfully, the ball reached Izuki, who ran in front of Imayoshi right as the ball was about to hit his hands. He caught sight of Hyūga running to a different position outside of the three point line and Kagami guarding Wakamatsu under the basket. Since last year, he honed his Eagle Eye to be more detailed. Seeing Imayoshi on the wrong side of him to intercept, he passed to Hyūga.

Wakamatsu thundered toward the ball's flight path, his long legs allowing him to reach incredible speed in short bursts. Reaching to intercept the pass, the ball grazed his finger as it passed. Izuki heaved a sigh of relief. Hyūga caught hold of the ball and shot it, landing perfectly in the basket without even touching the rim.

Riko guessed Wakamatsu already knew that Izuki favored passing to Hyūga, but was too far away to stop it. The miscalculation on Wakamatsu's part is fortunate. If he had been any closer, Tōō would have gotten the ball. She knew who was behind all this. She looked at Momoi again. She looked disappointed. Momoi with her data and prediction is getting to be a troublesome thing. What they need is a boost in offensive and defensive power. Silently apologizing to Kuroko, she called for a sub. "Mitobe, you're up."

Cringing as Kise and Aomine both glared at her, she was adamant in her decision. Kuroko's misdirection will run out soon, and without some extra defense, Tōō will catch up in score soon. Mitobe stood up and pulled his T-shirt over his head, revealing his Seirin ball uniform. Kuroko reluctantly walked over to the bench and sat down. She raised her towel to her hair and proceeded to dry her hair.

Seirin stood waiting as Tōō mounted a offense. As soon as the ball passed the half court line, the players each picked a player to mark. Kagami and Kise double teamed Aomine. Mitobe guarded Wakamatsu. Hyūga stood between Aomine and Sakurai. Izuki kept a eye on Imayoshi behind him. A lone unnamed Tōō player stood free, depressed, as a wind blew a single leaf across the court.

Aomine faced Kise and Kagami. Bending down his knees, granting himself greater balance, he crossed over to his left. As Kagami moved to stop him, Kise moved to the right, ready for a fake. His plan foiled, Aomine straighted up again. Suddenly, he bounced the ball low between Kagami legs. Free of the ball, his speed and agility greatly increased and Aomine darted around Kagami quick as a rattlesnake's strike. Hitting the ball once powerfully to get to to bounce higher, Aomine resumed his dribble, free of his guard. Or so he thought. Kise was already in front of him.

"You won't pass, will you, Aomine-cchi?" Kise asked innocently.

"Nope, I'm enough to pass both of you, Kise," Aomine answered. Suddenly, he stopped dribbling and jumped back, shooting. Kagami, ready for the movement jumped up, arching his hand over Aomine, tried to block the fadeaway shot, but Aomine was too sneaky. He brought the ball back down as he was falling back, and then back up, shooting when his body is already horizontal to the ground. The ball bounced off the backboard and into the net, drawing a cheer from the bleachers.

Riko chewed on a fingernail. "Is there no way to stop Aomine?" she thought to herself. The day before the practice match, she had talked to Kise.

"Can you copy Aomine's style?" she had asked the tall yellow haired girl.

"No, but I feel like I can if I get stronger. For now, I'm limited to a short chain of movement,"Kise answered. "Why?"

"Nothing. Just a thought."

Riko continued to survey the match as Aomine scored yet another basket. Now that she thought about it, Seirin hadn't gotten a single point since Aomine arrived Tōō was overwhelming them with over 5 baskets. Was the presence of Aomine that much of a difference? No, there was something else; his childhood friend, Momoi Satsuki.

Mitobe had hold of the ball, guarded by Wakamatsu just inside of the paint. "Based on Momoi's data, he should go for a hookshot when up against a player taller than him. And I'm a rabbit if im not taller than he is," Wakamatsu thought. Sensing Mitobe about to jump, he jumped as well. Mitobe locked his eyes on him and brought his arm back, bending his elbow with the ball in his hand. There it is, the hookshot! Wakamatsu brought his hands over Mitobe, between the ball and the basket.

Instead of shooting it, however, Mitobe let the ball slide backward from his hands, intercepted a flash of yellow lightning. Recalling everything she has seen Aomine do, Kise attempted to mimic his movements. Confronted by Aomine as soon as she got the ball, she faked left and right, smashed the ball between his legs and catching the ball on his other side. Stunned by the sudden burst of movement, Aomine could only watch. Reaching the basket, Kise jumped up for a dunk. By that time, Aomine had around snapped out of his surprise and reached up to stop the dunk. Aomine and Kise hung in the air, both pushing against the ball with Kise's lesser strength clearly losing.

As Kise was about to fall back, Kagami's large hand covered her's and pushed against the ball, the added strength pushing Aomine back and jamming the ball into the basket; resulting in Seirin's first points since Aomine's arrival.

"Not bad, not bad," said Aomine, eyeing Kise and Kagami. "With the two of you together, we might actually be able to have fun." Suddenly, the buzzer rang, ending the practice match's first half with the score 52:43.

Note: I think I made Aomine too OP... eh... Review with comments, suggestions and mistakes plox :3


	17. Kuroko's Disappearance

Seirin's double ace faced off with Tōō's ace. Aomine dribble the ball slowly next to him while keeping his eyes on Kise and Kagami in front of him. Each bounce was deliberate and powerful. He suddenly darted forward, causing the two players in front of him to back off for more time to intercept his movements, but he immediately stopped, and went to his right. All this time, his eyes had turned to a rich color of azure, glowing slightly as he drew upon his inner talent of agility and speed. As soon as his front was was empty, he flew forward, even Kise's desperate swipe of her hand was helpless to stop him.

As soon as he was past, Kagami turned on his heel and shot after him. "I won't fail this time," he thought as he ran. As Aomine leapt back to take a shot, Kagami leapt with him, striking the ball out of his hands from behind. Aomine's head turned in shock as he looked at the person who interrupted his shot.

"How did he get here so quickly when he was out of position when i passed him?" Aomine thought to himself in shock. His words, however, show none of his feelings as he spoke. "So, you didn have it in you after all...the ability to stop me, even momentarily."

The ball, after it was struck out of Aomine's hands rolled to Hyūga. Seeing the way was clear, he ran toward the basket with Sakurai hot on his heels. Imayoshi also ran back toward his basket, but only to halfcourt.

Hyūga stopped dribbling when he reached the three point line and pivoted to the side as Sakurai shot past him, too fast to stop himself in time. He bent his knees, taking his time. Afterall, no one is close enough to stop him. His hands released the ball and it flew high in the air, swishing cleanly through the net. The ball was only worth two points, however. His foot was on the line. Sakurai, already close to the net grabbed the ball, and lobbed it to Imayoshi, above Hyūga's reach. As soon as Imayoshi caught the ball, he turned toward Seirin's basket and without really aiming, with mostly luck, shot from between the half court line and the three point line. The ball went straight into the basket.

That was to be the last shot Seirin made. With Kuroko's misdirection out of action, Momoi seeing through every trick Seirn's got, and Aomine's vastly superior skills, Seirin could score no more.

Tōō, however, has no such problems. Aomine constantly made the most impossible shots anyone outside of the Generation of Miracles had seen. Sakurai made almost all of his shots with swift releases, and before anyone could notice, the ball was high in the air. Wakamatsu easily overpowered everyone on the court, on par with Kagami's strength. Imayoshi's passes were unpredictable and his psychological attacks and mind games taking a toll on Izuki, clouding his judgement, which partially contributes to Seirin's inability to score.

"Line up!" Harasawa called. "Salute!" The players from Seirin and Tōō formed a two filed line, bowing to each other. The game ended with a score of Seirin's 54 to Tōō's 87. Unfazed, by their complete defeat, Seirin vowed to defeat them the next time they met in the Inter-high tournament.

As they walked home, Riko made a speech, a speech with a terrifying ending.

"You all did well this match. Remember that in the Inter-high, alot of teams will be as strong as Tōō without Aomine, but very few will come even close to Tōō's strength with their ace. This match was not to win. It was to give us motivation, and show how much practice we still need. My goal is achieved and suspicions confirmed. Let us double our muscle training!"

Kuroko raised her hand. "Do I have to also?" She remember throwing up and then fainting during Teiko's training and Riko drives them even harder than that.

Riko considered for a moment. "I think I'll let you off with one point five, then." She noted Kuroko's sigh of relief. She ceased to notice Kuroko after a while, with murmurs behind her as her players conversed in hushed tones.

Kise and Kagami walked side by side, talking and laughing. No one talked to Kuroko. No one even noticed she was gone, until the group disperse, each going to their house as the team dropped each of their players off at their house. Not until only Kagami and Kise was left did they turn, only finding Kuroko not behind them.

Note: Im really sorry :( I was busy with school and stuff and I didn't have time to update. Comment, suggest and correct in their reviews. Love you all :D  
>P.S: Sorry for the short chapter. The game ended and my planning was kind of vague and i overestimated the amount content in the chapter...plus, this seemed like a good place to leave off ^^<p> 


	18. Dog in the Rain

Kagami cursed and punched the wall while Kise slumped against the door to Kuroko and her apartment, stunned. Where did Kuroko go and when? Kagami grabbed Kise shoulder, shaking her. "Come on, we have to find Kuroko," he said, shaking a bit harder. Kise remained unresponsive, until Kagami shook her again.

"Yeah!" Kise got weakly to her feet. She ran with Kagami back out into the streets as soon as they tossed their bags into Kagami's apartment. She could hear nothing but their voice calling for Kuroko and the wind blowing by their ears while they ran.

Kuroko walked alone in the dark alley. She swore she heard a whimper from there, but it was too dark to see anything. A whine came again from somewhere to her right, in front of her. She walked toward the sound, almost running into a wall and tripping over a dog lying on the floor. She knelt, stroking the dog's soft fur. She pick it up; it was very light and small. As she picked it, she felt something wet and sticky on her hands. Carrying it into the empty streets and light, she found her hands bloody and the belly of the puppy red with dried and fresh blood.

"Kuroko!" Kise called, as she and Kagami ran through the streets, retracing their steps. At this rate, they would be back at Tōō before they found Kuroko. Finally, she stopped, her breathing long and ragged. Kagami was also out of breath, but not as badly.

"Perhaps..."Kagami started. He refused to consider the worse when there may be a chance left, but they haven't seen Kuroko even after so long of searching. "She got grabbed?"

Kise slapped him, tears in her eyes from despair at ever finding Kuroko in a city like Tokyo at night. "How dare you even think of that?! Kuroko will be okay! We'll find her." It began to rain.

Kagami rubbed his face, and beckoned to Kise. Without a word, they pulled on their hoods and continued running; not calling to preserve their strength.

Kuroko walked quickly through the streets, careful not to jolt the puppy for fear of reopening the wound. She carried the dog in one arm, holding it against her chest and stroked it's head, uttering quiet words, soothing it. She felt a raindrop against her hand. She took off her jacket, covering the puppy in it, and she walked, shivering in the cold.

She sped up as much as she dared without making sudden movements. She had to get home quickly and look at the wound. In front of her, she saw two tall shapes sillouetted against a lamp in the distance, running toward her at top speed.

Kise and Kagami saw a slim figure cast in shadows in the street. The shadow suddenly turned and ran away from them. As it ran, the light revealed to Kise's perfect eyesight a number of eleven on the back of the shirt of black, red and white design. "Kuroko! Wait!" Kagami called, but Kuroko was too far away to hear his voice.

Kuroko heard one of the people behind her dimly calling "Wait" but she was taking to chances. She ducked into a random alley, hiding in the shadows. She held the puppy tight to her chest and held her breath.

The figure ducked into a alley. Kise and Kagami put on speed, running to the spot the shadow vanished. They peered into the darkness, walking slowly, not seeing Kuroko right in front of them, because the darkness was so total. A whimper sounded in front of them.

Kuroko saw two familiar people run to the entrance of her alley and stopped, walking slowly. She heaved a sigh of relief, so quiet the two people didn't hear her. The puppy in her arms whimpered quietly. She stepped into the light. "Hello, Kise and Kagami."

Kuroko suddenly materialized in front of the pair, scaring them out of their wits. Kagami smiled and sighed in relief. Kise's reaction was more extreme. Kise squealed in delight and relief ("Kuroko-cchi!") and was about to pounce on Kuroko when she saw the dog. Her eyes grew wide with concern. "Who is this fellow? It's bleeding!"Kise cried, seeing the blood on Kuroko's hands. Kuroko nodded.

"We need to get home as quickly as we can," Kuroko said. Kise and Kagami murmured agreement. The three began the walk home as fast as they could.

Note: The fact that Kise broke her habit tells us how panicked she was. It's not a mistake o.o

Review with comments, suggestions and questions :D

P.S: Sorry this chapter is so short, but I try T^T


	19. Cold Fire

In the bathroom, Kuroko gently set the malamute puppy down in the bathtub, gently running warm water over her, softening and washing away the blood clumps without reopening the wound. "Poor girl," Kuroko murmured to herself. "She must have gotten separated with her mother and gotten hurt while looking for her mother." Cleaning the wound with alcohol, she bound the wound with bandages, then carried the puppy to her bed.

"You realize we can't keep it?" Kise said from behind her. Kuroko turned, glaring at Kise. "You know I'm right. This place doesn't allow pets."

"Then we'll have to move," Kuroko stated.

"Move?!" Kise sputtered, "move where?!"

"To the empty house my mother left me, of course." Kuroko's mother and father were both wealthy; even after they divorced, her mother could still afford a house. She died in a car accident and a nice woman next door cleans the house once a week.

Kise sighed. "If you had a house all along, why do you live here then?"

"Of course it's to live with my best friend and make sure she doesn't poison herself."

Kise glared at her playfully ("poison herself?!") and jumped on Kuroko. They fell to the floor, writhing with flailing limbs, laughing. Kuroko's laughter was bright and clear, tinkling with a bell. The malamute looked at them with one sapphire eye, and then went back to sleep, burrowing under the blanket.

"Kise, after I move out, do you want to come with me? It will be lonely by myself in a house," Kuroko suddenly asked, her eyes big as she expected a yes. It never came.

"I...I don't think I can. If I move with you, won't Kagami be lonely,too?"

At those words, Kuroko felt like she was stabbed in the heart. Here was her best and only friend, telling her she values someone she just met a few weeks ago, even if it was someone Kise loved, over her. It felt like the temperature dropped, and any cheerful mood was gone, suddenly. Kuroko rolled off Kise and climbed into her bed. Kise silently watched, then quietly walked out, shutting the door behind her. The malamute licked Kuroko's face, whining as if sensing her unhappiness, and laid her head on Kuroko's chest, her breathing growing deep as she fell asleep.

After she closed Kuroko's bedroom door, she sighed, leaning against the door, sliding down to sit on the floor. To think her Kuroko-cchi was abandoning her for a stray dog she found in the streets. Why doesn't she just drop it off at a animal shelter or something? It wouldn't be the first dog to have been dropped off. With some effort, she got up from the floor. She walked quietly to her room and shut the door.

That night, tears ran down each girl's eyes, but neither knew how the the other was feeling.

Kise's alarm rang. Yawning, she closed the alarm and got up. When she walked out of her bedroom, she realized everything was clean. Cracking open Kuroko's bedroom door, she saw her bed was made, her book bag gone. Kuroko woke up even earlier than she did and left for school already. The black and white puppy was still sleeping in the center of the made covers. Seeing that dog, Kise felt a surge of hatred toward the tiny lump of fur that was stealing Kuroko from her.

Kuroko held the ball, behind the three point line. She bent her knees and threw the ball. It was a close shot. The ball bounced off the strip of metal connecting the rim to the backboard, falling to the ground, leaving the net undisturbed. Unfazed by her miss, Kuroko took another ball out of the cart next to her, took aim, and released the ball again. This time, the shot was perfect. The ball sailed through the air, landing in the center of the hoop. A clean _swish _sounded in the court. She took another ball out, this time back up a few paces and ran. From a run to a dead stop, Kuroko threw the basketball. The ball swished through the basket again; yet Kuroko's expression didn't change. Her eyes were blank, her face face deprived and any emotion.

They were taking a test today. Kise sweated. She couldn't get the recent events out of her head, and the numbers and letters swam in before her eyes. She couldn't concentrate. She looked at Kuroko. The small blue haired girl sat there, her eyes angled at her papers, but unfocused. Her pencil, however moved non-stop as she worked out each problem without even pausing to think. She was pulled out of her thoughts when a brown wall crossed her field of vision. She looked up. Kise's math teacher stood glaring down at her. "If I were you, Kise-san, I would keep my eyes on my own paper..." he said, as he moved back up the aisle. Kise felt the entire classroom's eyes on her. She looked at Kuroko again, but she hasn't changed.

Seirin quickly learned that Kuroko was respected by the other five members of the Generation of Miracles not just because of her support ability. During practice, Kuroko wordlessly leveled the court. She tossed the ball to one of her teammates, immediately disappearing and reappearing somewhere completely different when she recieved the ball.

Even Kise, who played with her in middle school, was helpless. When Kuroko reached in front of her, she dropped low in the triple threat stance. Her blue eyes' blank stare was unnerving. Suddenly, she start dribbling, and her image seemed to flicker.  
>Kise only saw it once before. It was during Kuroko's duel with Akashi after he approved of a heartless trick they wanted to play on a team Kuroko's friend was in. As soon as Kuroko was out of the clinic, she challenged Akashi in cold rage. Her eyes were blank and emotionless. That time, Akashi almost tasted defeat. His Emperor Eye couldn't read her movements, he could barely see her. A normal Kuroko seemed unable to use that technique. Only a Kuroko that was emotionally stressed can. Only now did Kise realized how much she hurt Kuroko.<p>

Now, Kise stood as Kuroko shot pass her, and easily scored a basket before Kise managed to turn. Kuroko stood as the ball dropped. Today, she will not be stopped. Today, a cold fire burns within her.

Note: Cheers for Kuroko...kinda. Hope she wasn't too overpowered. Im sticking with this, so don't tell me to change anything please. Review, comment and suggest :D PM me or review with questions, which i may or may not answer. I'll stick something like a information sheet in the front of the story or something. Or maybe the back.  
>P.S: Something to compare the flickering to? You might say a uncontrolled vanishing drive, but using Kuroko's lack of presence instead of someone's presence, along with some movements. She also enters a secluded area in her mind, entering something similar, but inferior to the Zone, not enhancing mental, but not physical capacities.<p> 


	20. A Blessing in Megumi

Kagami heard a knock on his door. He went and opened it. Standing in the doorway was Kise, her eyes red. He stood aside and let Kise in. "What's wrong, Kise?" he asked the yellow haired girl.

Kise sniffed. "Kuroko is ignoring me. I...we had a fight last night over the dog she brought home."

"The dog? What does she have to do with anything? Did you have a fight over who gets to sleep with it? Wait, I thought dogs aren't allowed here."

Kise glared at Kagami's blunt words. "Kuroko-cchi is moving out soon, right after we pay our next rent."

"Oh, are you going with her? It will be lonely here without you two annoying girls," Kagami grinned, then withered under Kise's glare.

She stood up. "How could you be so blind to by feelings? I didn't want to move with Kuroko-cchi because that would leave you alone! I can't bear that; I love you...Taiga." Her outburst over, she dropped like a rock back on the couch next to Kagami.

Kagami was stunned. All along, he had thought that his love was one sided and Kise never noticed. "I...Kise...I think I understand..." He sighed and put his arm around Kise. Kise rested her head on Kagami's broad shoulder. "I think you should go with Kuroko-chan. We can still talk over the phone and at school, but if you break your friendship with Kuroko-chan, it's lost forever." Kagami absently gripped his necklace.

"Very well, I will go with Kuroko. I must go apologize to her first though. There is one more thing to do first, thought," Kise said. Without warning,she took Kagami's head in both her hands and pulled him into a deep kiss. Kagami's eyes widened, and then he returned the kiss.

Kuroko sat on her bed in her dark room silently, her head lowered. Over her shoulders draped a towel. Her shoulder length hair was wet from the shower she just took. Beside her laid the puppy, panting and looking at Kuroko periodically. Kuroko's eyes slowly focused. It was like someone has lifted a blindfold. Once again, Kuroko's eyes had light in them, and recalling the events of the day, she smiled sadly.

The malamute puppy seemed to sense the change. She looked at Kuroko and howled, a quiet, drawn out sound. Kuroko looked down at those blue eyes, and ruffled the dog's head. "Right, I haven't named you yet..." she whispered. She thought for a while. "From now on, your name is Megumi, a blessing." She laid down and buried her face in Megumi's fur.

"Who did you think was wrong in last night's talk, Megumi?" Kuroko asked. The puppy whined. "Me? Well, i suppose I was a bit too harsh with Kise-chan. It's just that I was hurt that she would choose Kagami over me, her childhood friend." The puppy rubbed her nose on Kuroko's hand. "We're still going to move, you know, but I'll go ask Kise one more time and apologize. The rent is dued tomorrow, so we're packing tomorrow and leaving the day after that." She kissed Megumi's head and got up from her bed.

Kuroko walked out of the apartment she and Kise shared and went to Kagami's door. She tested the door; it was unlocked. She opened the door, and saw Kise and Kagami kissing. She froze. The towel on her shoulders slipped and fell to the floor. Kise broke the kiss, and stood up. "Wait, Kuroko. This isn't..." Kise got no further, for the doorway was empty. Kise got up, apologized to Kagami and ran out the door, shutting it behind her.

Kise approached Kuroko's shut bedroom door. Inside, she heard sobs and whines as Megumi comforted Kuroko. She slowly opened the door. "Kuroko, I'm sorry." Kuroko sat up on her bed, tears streaming down her face.

"Sorry about what?" Kuroko managed to choke out.

"I'm sorry for putting Kagami over you. You're my best friend, and I love Kagami. You can't ask me to choose between you, because I won't be able to."

Kuroko lightly wiped some tears from her face but it was in vain. "Do you expect me to believe that me and Kagami are equals in your heart even after I saw _that_?"

Kise sighed and sat down next to Kuroko, who was trying to hold in her sobs, choking and coughing. Tears continued to fall out of her eyes and suddenly, Kuroko burst into a violent bout of coughing. Kise rubbed Kuroko's back soothingly, trying to stop Kuroko from coughing. "Kuroko-cchi, I'm sorry for making you cry like this. This face you make does not suit you; please smile, Kuroko-cchi, you look cuter that way." Kise raised Kuroko's head and kiss her cheek. "Is it okay if I go with you when you move, Kuroko-cchi?"

Kuroko nodded, dried her eyes and still trembling, lifted the puppy. "This is Megumi. Say hi to Kise-chan." Megumi whined and leaned her head forward to lick Kise's face, leaving a wet trail on Kise face. Both Kise and Kuroko laughed, while Megumi looked between the two, finally settling for a quiet howl.

Note: Yes, i changed the dog's gender to female too : If you catch any mistakes, tell me. Review, comment and ask questions in your review :D


	21. Long Day

The day after the fight, the girls were back together as if nothing happened. Kise continued to joke around with Kuroko occasionally cracking a small smile, which, for her is a roar of laughter. The grades came out. Kise and Kagami both got horrible grades, ranking 103 and 107 respectively. Kuroko was ranked number 1, even though she obviously didn't try in her studies. Her appearance at the top of the board sent a ripple through the grade and the boys all of a sudden took a interest on Kuroko and the girls all wanted to be her friend...after all, who doesn't want to be seen with a academic genius? Not to mention cute.

The rest of the day flew by as if on wings. As the day went on, Kise became more and more talkative in her anticipation to see the house Kuroko inherited from her mother. Until that night, she didn't even know such a house existed.  
>"Kuroko-cchi, how big is the place? What are you doing right now?"<br>When she chattered, however, Kuroko merely ignored her or responded with extremely short answers. Once again, words swam on her page and Kuroko continued to do her work. Unlike two days ago, however, Kuroko worked with a slight smile.

During basketball practice, Riko announced something. "Alright, boys and girls, the Inter-high Tournaments start next week. I'll be collecting information on our opponents, but you guys must keep your skills sharp." The players all nodded. As they practiced shooting, Kise and Kagami had a one on one, which Kagami lost.

Kise and Kuroko hurried home from school with Kagami that day to supervise the movers. Now, they stood in the cool dusk air as the moving truck pulled up in the apartment. Men came out and began to move furniture and things out of the apartment. They had packed the smaller items in boxes before to make moving easier. Megumi hung on to Kuroko's head as her head and eyes followed each person as they went in and out of the apartment rooms. Very quickly, they finished moving everything from the apartment.

"We're finished, miss." The movers tipped their caps to the girls and hopped on the truck, driving toward Kuroko's house. Kise and Kuroko had hired a taxi to take them there and now they climbed into the waiting car. Behind them, Kagami waved to them goodbye as they drove from the apartments. A few minutes later, they arrived at Kuroko's house.

After Kise paid the driver, the taxi drove away. The moving truck parked in the street in front of the house...no, _mansion_. "Kuroko-cchi!" When you said you inherited a house, you didn't mention it is in the richest area in Tokyo and is a mansion, not a house!"

Kuroko walked toward the house and Kise walked with her. She looked at Kise and Megumi on her head looked at Kise too. Kise found two pairs of blue innocent looking eyes staring at her. "I didn't?"

"No!" Kise practically yelled. Kuroko stuck a key into the heavy ornate gate and pushed it open with some effort. She turned and waved at the movers. At her signal, the men started dragging boxes to the mansion. Kuroko ran up to the door itself and opened it, allowing them to enter and deposit the boxes.

The beds came first. Kuroko had already picked out two adjacent bedrooms connected by a door in the second floor, both which overlooks the large front yard. Kise approved. As long as she was close to Kuroko, she was fine with it. The bed frames came up the wide spiral staircase one at a time. Then the mattresses came up, Kuroko's a cool blue color streaked with blueish green and Kise's a pure gold color. As soon as the mattress was placed, Kise jumped on Kuroko's bed, falling asleep almost instantly, while Kuroko went back downstairs.

By the time she was downstairs, all the boxes was inside and the movers were taking the furniture in. Kuroko opened one of the boxes and began taking the plates, bowls, chopsticks and spoons out and putting it in the cabinets in the kitchen. Once in a while, one of the younger movers would come in and ask where to put something.

A hour later, the movers left and Kuroko paid them a generous tip. Locking the door, she began to clean the place. The lady that came here to clean was thorough, and most of the enormous place was clean. She found some dirty areas missed though, and went to clean it; she painstakingly dusted every corner and made sure there were no obvious dirt on the floor.

She suddenly felt exhausted and her eyes felt heavy. As if in agreement, Megumi, laying at her feet, parted her jaws in a enormous yawn. Together, master and dog climbed the stairs to the bedroom, with Megumi jumping from one step to the other. Kuroko opened the door to her bedroom, and seeing Kise asleep there, smiled and pulled her blue covers over Kise before climbing into the bed herself, putting her arm over Kise. A small mound tunneled her way through the blankets, popping out between the two girls and closed her eyes, beginning to sleep. It was, after all, a long day.

Note: About halfway through the chapter, my brain died. I worked hard, hped you like the chapter! Review with suggestions, comments and questions~  
>P.S: Someone told me that Tetsuya Nigou is a Siberian Husky. No, Megumi is a Alaskan Malamute, identified with the two white dots on her forehead. Huskies lack the two dots.<p> 


	22. A New Home

Kise opened her eyes to a unfamiliar room. A sudden panic struck her before she realized this was Kuroko's mansion. She turned and her arm touched something furry. She looked at Megumi sleeping next to her, a tiny form between Kuroko and her. Beyond Megumi was Kuroko. Strangely, her hair was no longer messed up as it did every day in the morning. Kise watched Kuroko sleep, her breathing even and light.

Suddenly, Kuroko's eyes twitched. Slowly, they opened, revealing striking blue eyes. She sat up, rubbing her eyes slowly and her hair falling over her shoulders. Kise blinked; is it just her, or did Kuroko's hair grow alot longer? Sure enough, Kuroko's blue hair extended past her shoulders, the longer strand was enough to reach her chest.

"What's wrong, Ki-chan. Why are you looking at me like that?" Kuroko asked in a quiet, sleepy voice. At the sound of her voice, Megumi woke up instantly and jumped on Kuroko, knocking her over. Kuroko let out a startled cry as she landed flat on her back on the bed again. Megumi crouched on Kuroko's chest, wagging her tail, and then gave Kuroko a big lick on the face.

Kise tried to hold it in with her hands, but failed and burst out laughing. "Nothing, Kuroko-cchi. It's just that you're so cute when you sleep." Kuroko sat back up, and Megumi fell off her chest onto the bed again.

Awake now, Kuroko pouted. "Stop teasing me, Ki-chan.!"

Kise smiled, leaned over and kissed her cheek. "I'm not joking, Kuroko-cchi. Don't pout like that." Kise moved back and swung her long legs off the bed, feeling for her slippers. "Lets go downstairs and get something to eat."

Kuroko nodded and picked Megumi up, following Kise downstairs. She found Kise gaping at the crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. "Pretty, isn't it? I used to like to sit on the staircase and just look at it when I was younger." Kuroko walked over to the light switch. "Ki-chan, close your eyes for a second." Kise shut her eyes and Kuroko flicked the light switch. The room exploded in light, the light refracting through the crystals, hitting every corner of the room. Kise opened her eyes and looked at the chandelier breathlessly after her eyes got used to the light.

"Ki-chan, don't just stand there gaping, come on!" Kuroko called from the kitchen. Kise looked away from the light, momentarily blinded as her pupils refocused. Kuroko wore a apron while she cooked. "Don't just stand there, Ki-chan. Watch how I cook. Geez, what will you do when you get married and your husband finds out you can't cook?"

At the mention of husband, Kise's mind started to wander. If Kuroko puts it like that, she doesn't need to cook, since Kagami is a much better cook than she is. Finally, Kise was jolted out of her daydream with Kuroko stomping on her foot. "Ki-chan, stop daydreaming and help me get this stuff on the table."

Kise reached down to rub her foot and then she helped Kuroko carry the food to the table, then sitting down to eat.

"Ahh, Im full!" Kise announced, as she stretched out on her chair, putting her hand over he stomach. Kuroko sat quietly while Megumi answered for her. During the meal, Kuroko fed her bits of meat and over time, Megumi ate almost a fifth of Kuroko's small portion. Megumi's tongue swiped over her sauce stained mouth and whined happily.

"Starting Monday next week, we'll be participating in the Inter-High tournament," Kuroko said.

Kise nodded agreement. "Maybe we'll see Midori-cchi, Murasaki-cchi and Akashi-cchi!" Kise rocked back and forth on her chair. "It's been soo long since I last seen them. Aren't you excited too?"

Kuroko answered almost immediately. "No."

"Wow, so heartless, Kuroko-cchi," Kise said. "No matter what, they were your teammates in middle school."

"I admit that they are...were my teammates, but I have no friends, except you, that is. Not since that day," Kuroko replied. Kise knew which day she was talking about. It was the day before Kuroko partially awakened, spurred by her rage at Akashi.

"Well, you might see Aomine-cchi," Kise said. Kuroko looked away, turning her head suddenly, almost sending Megumi flying off her head. Megumi twisted her neck to continue to look at Kise.

"Humph! It's not like I care about my brother or anything. It's useless bringing him up!" Kuroko stated, her head still turned. Kise smiled knowingly and leaned across the table. She whispered something into Kuroko's ear and Kuroko turned red, shaking her head violently immediately afterwards, sending poor Megumi flying off her head. Kuroko had a mild case of brother complex. In Kise's opinion, she thought she should try to break those lines of thoughts or Kuroko will never get married.  
>Kuroko stood up. "This conversation is over!" she declared. She put on a jacket and a basketball and ran to her backyard to the court there. Kise laughed and went after her.<p>

Note: I got caught. When i mentioned that Aomine and Kuroko are blood siblings, i realized that they are supposed to be exactly 7 months apart. I hoped you guys wouldn't notice...  
>Choices:<br>1. Aomine's dad cheated on his mom, so they broke up and their dad later married Kuroko's mom_after_ she got pregnant.  
>2. Kuroko was born about 2 months early and technically should be dead by by some miracle survived, resulting in her weak appearance.<br>3. This whole time in my story, Kuroko is 15 and she is so smart she skipped a grade (hey, it fits with her brilliant test scores) resulting in a 19 month difference between Aomine and Kuroko.  
>4. Because i am the author, i can bend the strands of reality.<br>These are your choices, if anyone has a better idea, tell me, im all ears...and hands, can't type without hands. If you can PM me with your choice, I can edit the chapter based on the number of votes i have.  
><span>Edit:<span> Score was 1/2/2 and someone actually picked #4, which is suppose to be a joke... I broke the tie by picking #2, so i just updated the chapter. Chapter 23 might take a bit because of my writer's block though...


	23. Shinkyo

"Our first opponents is are Shinkyo High. Remember what I said about their center, Kagami?" Riko said.

Kagami nodded. Almost half of his training since the match-up came out has been for taking on Shinkyo's two meter tall center. Together, the team went into the locker room. There was never any girls playing with boys in the Interhigh so Kise and Kuroko had to squish in with the boys. To give the girls some privacy, the boys stayed outside while the girls changed.

Hyuga tossed the ball from the three point line, making a perfect shot. Izuki smacked him on his back. "Not bad, not bad. You're in your top form today!"

Hyuga glared at Izuki for hitting him. "Keep your paws to yourself. And its just that I dont want to lose; not in the first round to a team that sucks so bad, they're relying on one player to carry them."

Kagami nodded. "They can't seriously expect someone to beat Aomine with height alone, can they-?" His words were cut short by the door to the gym opening.

"Sorry! Im late!" A tall player in Shinkyo colors appeared in the doorway, smashing his forehead on the doorframe. "I ****ing hate Japan. Everything is so small here!" Papa Mhaye Siki, Shinkyo's center from Senegal stooped down and entered the gym. He is two meters tall with prominent cheekbones.

"He's tall!" Kagami said. Even though he said that height isn't such a big deal, now that he saw someone that tall, it's going to be a huge pain to guard someone with reach like that.

"Sorry, sorry!" Papa said to his captain, walking toward Yusuki Tanimura. Suddenly, he stopped, bumping into something. "What the..." He looked down at Kuroko. He squatted down. "No, little girl, you can't be on the courts at this time. Go back to your parents."

Kuroko glared angrily. She pulled up her shirt, revealing a edge of her uniform. "I'm not a little girl!" She turned and walked away, continuing to shoot practice shots.

Papa straightened. "We're going against little kids?" He looked at Kise, seemingly remembering her. "Oh, you're that girl from Teiko... the Generation of MIracle are all kids? I'm so disappointed." Behind KIse, the rest of Seirin (excluding Kuroko) struggled to hold in their laughter. "I'll defeat you. Show them all the Generation of Miracle is no big deal."

At that, Kagami gritted his teeth. This foreigner has no idea how powerful the Generation of Miracle is. Suddenly, the ref's whistle blew, signalling the start of the game.

The ball went straight up into the air, and as it fell, Papa's reach allowed him to win the tip off. "Damn, this guy's reach is no joke!" Kagami thought as he chased the player with the ball. The player passed the ball to Papa and even though Seirin tried to stop him, he easily avoided their blocks by jumping over them and shooting.

"We're taking this point back!" Hyuga shouted. He dribbled right up to the three point line, all of Shinkyo's other players too incompetent to stop him. The way is clear and he shot. "Yes! Its going to go in!" Suddenly, a shadow appeared in front of him and Papa _caught _the ball, bringing it down with him. Immediately he charged toward Seirin's basket, shooting it into the basket.

-30 points later (for Shinkyo, 29 points for Seirin)-

"Coach, im bored." Kise's finger tapped repeatedly on her knee as she watch the game with increasing impatience.

"I know, Kise-chan. Just wait. I know if I put you in, we'll win easily, but give Kagami a chance, will you?"

"Well, if you put it like that..." Kise sighed, and continued to watch.

"Go Kagami, show the results of your training!" Riko stood, and pointed at Kagami. Kagami nodded and ran after Papa. Just as Papa entered the paint, Kagami cut in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.

As Papa's hands went up to shoot, Kagami jumped with him and blocked the shot. "I already told you, I'll block you!" Kagami said. Papa cursed, "why is he jumping higher and higher?"

From the sidelines, Riko puzzled over the same thing. "I had him training for pressure defense...not jumping... how did he manage to block him? Anyway, go, Kise!"

As Kise joined the game and with Kagami's increased defense, Shinkyo didn't stand a chance. Kise and Kagami easily crushed Shinkyo's defense and Kuroko sabotaged everything Shinkyo did. When Papa tried to score, Kagami blocked or pressured him into missing. The game was won easily, even after the initial defeat Seirin suffered at first.

Note: I've lost my will to continue... for some reason... I lack motivation? I'll try my best, though part of my concentration will be stuck into my new fanfic which is..once again a gender bender..woot.


	24. Firepower

Riko paced around her small closet-office as the rest of the team practiced outside. It was good to have confidence, but too much will be their downfall... she needed to figure out how to kill some of that confidence without reducing morale. A knock on the door interrupted her marching. Opening it, she was confronted by Kuroko, sweat running in streaming down her neck and soaking her shirt.

"Coach?" Kuroko said. "We should go watch Shutoku play."

"Why?"

"Teiko's shooting guard, Shintaro Midorima attends Shutoku."

Riko hit herself in the face. _Forgetting your opponents is the fastest way to get defeated. How can i have forgotten that?!I _"You're right, Kuroko. If we keep winning, eventually we will have to face them. It will do us well to study their play styles beforehand." She stopped. This is the perfect chance to solve her problem! Riko clasp her hand on Kuroko's shoulders, figurative tears of happiness streaming down her face. "Thank you, Kuroko!"

With that, she marched out to gather the players, leaving a very confused Kuroko standing."

"Boys, we're going to go watch a tournament!" No one but Kise knew what she was talking about.

The players of Seirin watched in shock as Shutoku overwhelmed the defense of Kinka High over and over. In defense, the center of the team stands as immovable as a mountain. In offense, Midorima's accuracy puts that of snipers to shame.

Hyuga wiped a bead of cold seat from him forehead. "I know that magazine we read said his specialty is long range shots, but..." He paused as he watched another shot go in from way behind the three point line. "But...I never expected every single shot to score!"

Riko looked at Kise and Kuroko. "Has he always been so accurate?"

Kise nodded. "I haven't seen him miss since..." Her voice trailed off. When was the last time he missed? Kuroko piped in.

"We've never seen him miss."

As she waited for that statement to sink in, Kuroko continued to watch Midorima, her intelligent brain racing to find a way to stop him. Even though he is slightly less skilled than Aomine, ball handling wise, his offense is definitely no weaker. At last, the buzzer shook her out of her thought. She heard her teammates, except for Kise, gasp. So absorbed were they in the game, they failed to notice the scores. Now, they took in the overwhelming firepower and defense of Shutoku; the game ended 153 to 21, with Shutoku's flawless victory...

PS: Ello, im back. im so sorry for running off without telling anyone. I pormise i wont do it again. Gomenasai...btw, is Aomine the first or last name? Kuroko would be calling him by his first time...


	25. Techniques Cracked

Next up is the match with Seiho. After seeing the one sided stomping from Shutoku, Seirin thought they were prepared for everything the tournament has to throw at them. Sadly, this shall not be.

"Oh!" Kise exclaimed, pointing at a first year student from Seiho; a short, well muscled teen with close shaved head. "I know that guy!"

The rest of Seirin drew their attention from the video and looked at Kise. "What do you mean?" asked Izuki.

"Last year, his team played against Teiko. He was sent to mark me. For some reason, i can't seem to shake him off," Kise replied.

"Yes, and Akashi had to sub you out of Aomine," Kuroko added. While Kagami tried to hide his smile, he was caught by Kise. She smacked him across the leg.

"Stop laughing."

Riko straightened in her chair. "Enough with the joking. Let's devote our attention to figuring out how to crack their defense."

Kise nodded and turned her attention to the boy's movement. Something was bothering her. A thought was in her head, but she can't seem to pin it down... Kise gave up. She was a lot faster this year, so he shouldn't be able to keep up, right?

-Day of Semi-Finals and Finals-

"Darn it..." Kagami grumbled, slumping as he walked, bags under his eyes.

"What's wrong, Kagam-cchi?" Kise asked, concerned.

Kuroko laughed quietly. "He didn't sleep, of course. Can't you see that?"

Kise frowned. "I know, but it doesn't hurt to ask!" The team walked toward the tournament building in silence. Riko sighed and shook her head. The team's inability to figure out the strangeness in Seiho's movements left everyone on edge.

The group entered the air conditioned lobby of the tournament building and to the reception desk. "We are from Seirin High," Riko told the lady sitting in front of the computer.

"Seirin?" The woman scrolled through the list of teams. "Ah, found you." She leaned over the desk and pointed toward a set of double doors. "Your prep area is that way. You will be called when you are up." She clicked a few times. "There, you are signed in now. Good luck!" She smiled brightly.

The team thanked her and continued their way.

-One hour later-

Kagami charged up the court toward the basket. Kuroko toss the ball to Kise and she shot from way behind the three point line. As it became obvious that the ball will not go into the basket, Kagami jumped, catching the ball in midair and dunked it in.

"Nice, you three!" Riko called. "But save your strength for the game!" Kagami, Kise and Kuroko nodded. Kagami looked around the court and his eyes drifted to a tall player with green hair.

"What are you looking at, Kagami?" asked Kise, following his gaze. "Oh, Midori-cchi. Looks like we'll be up against them if we win this round against Seiho, right?" Kagami nodded.

Midorima sudden turned, as if he felt the eyes on him and caught Kagami's gaze. As their eyes met, spark flew. Suddenly, the intercom screeched, making everyone cringe.

"Sorry about that! All teams competing in the semi-finals, please move to your respective courts. The line up is the following; Seiho versus Seirin, Ginbo vs Shutoku. Thank you."

Seirin's starting members are Kise and Kagami, Hyuga and Izuki along with Mitobe. The five players lined up in front of the five starters from Seiho. The centers stepped forward and the referee threw the ball into the air.

Seiho's captain and center, Iwamura jumped and won the tip off, giving Seiho the first offensive move. Within seconds, Seiho scored a basket as Seirin was out of position. On top of that, their movement keeps disrupting Seirin's concentration. Before they realized it, Seiho was ahead by 12 points.

**Meanwhile in the audience**: "Whoa whoa, what the heck." Aomine leaned back as he observed the game.

"Whats wrong, Aomine-kun?" asked Momoi.

"What's wrong?" Aomine repeated. He pointed at the scoreboard. "That's whats wrong. This isn't the same team that crushed Too while i wasn't there. This is too weak."

"Well, you can't exactly blame them," Momoi chided. "After all, they're not as fast as you, and they don't know the origin of Seiho's movement."

Aomine sat up straight. "Their movements? Tell me!"

Momoi shook her head and leaned her head of Aomine's shoulder, a smug smile on her face.

**Back to the game**: The whistle blew, signalling the end of the first quarter. Riko beckoned her players and knelt in front of them, her expression grim as she always did when there is important news to be told.

"I figured out the secret to their weird movements," Riko announced.

Kuroko was silent for a bit before she spoke up. "So did I." Riko looked at her in surprise. "I mean..." Kuroko blushed. She waved for Riko on continue talking.

"Riiight... So, Seiho's training involves mastering certain forms of old martial arts that conserves their stamina and increases their balance and speed."

Kagami blinked; so that's why the movement of Seiho's Tsugawa felt strange and accounts for the fact that he can't seem to get past him. His mind whirled as he tried to make use of the new information that he obtained about Seiho.

"Mitobe?" Riko said. Mitobe looked at her, silent as always. "After a few more minutes, we'll replace you with Kuroko-chan." Mitobe nodded.

The buzzer sounded, and the game resumed.

Notes: I'm busy with school...with the EOC and some major projects coming up. I will continue to update irregularly. Sorry...


	26. The Legendary King: Shutoku

"Kagami!" Izuki called. He threw the ball toward him and Kagami caught it, facing Tsugawa.

"Heh, I don't care if you are using martial arts or something like that, but against us, it doesn't work!" With that, Kagami dribbled the ball, feinting to the left and immediately threw the ball between Tsugawa's feet and ran around him, catching the ball on the other side. Jumping, he stuffed the ball into the basket, resulting in Seirin's first points.

As the team congratulated Kagami's breakthrough, Kuroko looked at Shutoku's game. She tugged on Riko's shirt. "Riko-chan, Shutoku already switched Midorima-san out." Riko took a quick glance at Shutoku and sighed, resting her head in her hand. Kuroko looked at Tsugawa. She frowned as she saw Tsugawa's smile. Why would a person who just got passed smile? She didn't think that was good.

With Kagami's dunk, Seiho's defense fell in disarray. Kise repeatedly scored as she passed her marks easily and with less pressure, Izuki made a lot more passes. Hyuga's confidence rose and with it, his accuracy. Before long, the score was tied at 19 points. Finally, Seiho called a time out.

"This...this isn't scientifically possible!" protested Tsugawa. He broke off as Seiho's captain slammed his hand on the bench.

"Get that thought out of your mind this instant," Iwamura said. "Anyone else who was thinking the same thing, get that thought out. No metter how weak a opponent is, we must never underestimate them, and play like every game is our last. Remember: It isnt that winners are the strongest, its the strongest are the winners." Tsugawa lowered his head, subdued. "Now, lets go teach them a lesson. I feel they have scored enough points for now."

As the buzzer sounded again, the two teams filed back onto the court, Kuroko replacing Mitobe.

As they headed on to the court, Kise stopped Kagami by pulling on his shirt. "Kagami-cchi?" When Kagami looked at her, she asked," Do you mind switching marks with me? I want to go against Tsugawa please."

"Why?" Kagami asked. He stopped talking when Kise smiled sweetly.

"_Please_," Kise repeated. A shiver went up Kagami's back and he agreed. "I want to pay him back for last year. Because of him, i got scolded by Akashi."

Kagami nodded and they split up. Izuki passed the ball to Kise and she dribbled down the court, stopping in front of Tsugawa.

"Say, i remember you from last year," he said, looking her up and down. "You're that chick who couldn't break my defense, even though you're in Teiko, aren't you? The one who got scold by her captain?"

Kise's hand itched to hit him in the face, but that would be a foul, not to mention she might be removed from the game. Then she relaxed. He was only teasing. She looked around the court and caught Kuroko and Kagami's eyes. She nodded and they nodded back.

He waited until Kise turned back to Tsugawa. As soon as her eyes left him, Kagami charged down the court, leaving his guard far behind. Kuroko slipped away too, unnoticed by her mark.

As Kagami drew Seiho's attention, Kise tossed the ball behind her to Kuroko while she ran off, When Tsugawa turned back, he got a nasty surprise. Instead of the blonde girl that is taller than him, he is met wth a small girl who barely came up to his forehead. The scary thing was, when did she come onto the court?! As he reached to steal the ball from Kuroko, she tossed the ball between his legs and Kise caught it behind him.

Turning, she threw the ball toward the basket and Kagami caught it in midair, jamming the ball into the net. As he fell to the ground, he let go of the rim and it sprung back up with a clank, shaking the backboard.

A hush fell over the audience as the three rookies broke through Seiho's defense effortlessly once more. When Kuroko looked around, she found that even Midorima was looking, though he quickly averted his gaze and went back to filing his nails.

Suddenly, she felt a gaze on her back that she havent felt for half a year. She looked toward the door that led to a staircase to the lobby and saw a man with spiky red hair looking straight into her eyes. He wore a white collared shirt over a white and blue one. He smiled and turned, his heterochromia eyes lingering a bit more before he left.

Kuroko felt her heart beat slightly faster. She turned her attention back to the game, for some reason more determined than ever to win...

The game ended with a landslide victory. With only thirty minutes left on the clock, there was less time than Kuroko's time limit, so she played for the remaining time. Playing with a uncharacteristic focus, she became a second invisible point guard, assisting over 40 points. Kise and Kagami destroyed Seiho's defense, the three rookies supporting each other. Hyuga made less points than he wanted to, which led to him griping the entire game and Izuki' eagle eye constantly disrupted Seiho, making them run into each other as he passed at unexpected angles.

The celebration was cut short, however, with the looming threat of Shutoku. Unlike Seirin, Shutoku's ace is well rested. Midorima pushed up his glasses and fixed his eyes on Seirin, sending a silent, but unmistakable challenge.

Note: How was it :D I think i did pretty well, but i ran out of things to say about the game, and it got old. I wanted to save some action for Shutoku and i didnt want to be repetitive, so i just cut Seiho's game short... sorry. Review, comment and suggest plox :3


	27. Spectators

"Umm...Kise-chan?" Kuroko called. "Do you know where the bathroom is?"

Kise sighed. "This is why i told you to study the map Riko gave us. Come on, I'll take you there."

Kuroko trailed behind her looking thoroughly chastised. As they entered the brightly lit tunnel, they passed a player in orange and white uniform with black hair. Kise ignored the Shutoku player while Kuroko gave a little wave in greeting. The boy looked up from studying the floor and grinned at her.

"Hello, Seirin rookie. I wish you a good game!" He turned back to studying the floor and they passed each other without further exchange of words. It wasn't until Kise was waiting by the door for Kuroko that she realized something strange. _Somebody outside of the Miracle of Generations can see Kuroko. _She looked toward the direction of the court. This could be bad for Kuroko.

Kise took out her phone, plugging in her earphones. She tensed. Today's horoscope is not going in Kuroko' Aquarius' favor, while Midorima's Cancer have extremely good luck. She hoped it wasn't a bad omen. She looked up as the door next to her opened and Kuroko walked out. She quickly stuffed her phone in her pocket and when Kuroko looked at her questioningly, she shook her head. She didn't want Kuroko to think of her as a overly superstitious person.

-On the court-

Shutoku: "Everyone listen up. I know this is unexpected. We had thought that our opponent in the finals will be Seiho, but the plan doesn't change," Shutoku's captain Otsubo said, looking each player in the eyes. "We will go all out from the beginning. It doesn't matter in our opponent is a tiger or a rabbit, all a lion has to do is crush them with all his strength." The member of Shutoku shouted a affirmative a ran toward the court.

Seirin: "Kagami, I really hope you're well rested, because Shutoku is strong...even stronger than Seiho now that they have Midorima as a shooting guard." Riko sighed and rested her head in her hands. "Kise, Kuroko and Kagami, you three are up first along with Hyuga and Izuki. I think that makes the strongest possible offense in Seirin right now. What we must do is pull ahead while we can." After being given a few more pointers, Seirin broke up the huddle and ran to join Shutoku at the center of the court.

The ref threw the ball high and Kagami jumped, winning the tip off. The ball flew into Izuki's hand and the teams dispersed. Izuki quickly took a survey of the team's layout on the court, and to his shock, nobody was open. "What the, this defense... it's second only to Seiho's pressure defense!" Izuki's eyes narrowed. "But... we're not taking it lying down."

As the teams struggled for a better position, Kuroko disappeared. After using his Eagle Eye to check on her position, Izuki threw the ball toward Hyuga. Kuroko appeared out of nowhere and deflected the ball toward the basket and Kagami jumped and caught it, swinging his arm down to dunk it.

"Not so fast!" Midorima jumped too, and hooked his hand around the basketball, wrenching it out of Kagami's hand and toward the ground.

Out of the blue, a light voice said, "That's my line." Kise caught the ball and jammed it into the basket; the first points of the game going to Seirin.

Shutoku, however, refuses to be left behind. Takao dribbled down the court, Izuki hot on his heels. Suddenly, he stopped cold and Izuki skid past him. Passing sideways to Midorima, he immediately set up a screen to prevent Kagami from stopping Midorima's shooting. Midorima closed the remaining distance to the three point line and stopped, bringing the ball up to shoot. He immediately drought it back down as Kise's hands passed through the air where the ball was a instant before. Noting the self rebuke Kise had in her eyes, he jumped and shot, the ball flying through the net, as if tracing a pre-planned path.

"As expected of Shin-chan," Takao said, swatting him on his back as he passed him on his way back to defense. Midorima waited a bit before heading back himself. He looked at the scoreboard out of the corner of his eyes and allowed a tiny twitch of his mouth break his signature frown.

As the game went back and forth without scoring another point, Kuroko's mind ran as she tried to think of a way out of the deadlock. Kise, used to Midorima's shot and timing stopped him from getting hold of the ball from his first shot onwards. Suddenly, the flow of the battle changed. Otsubo grabbed hold of the ball and threw it across the court, despite the effort Kagami put into stopping him. As Takao caught the ball, he charged down the court and encountered Izuki once more.

"How many times have you stopped me from getting a shot in or a assist?" he asked Izuki as he dribbled. Suddenly, he bounced it between his legs to someone behind him. Midorima bent his legs and boosted upwards, releasing the ball from a position between the three point line to half court.

Hyuga looked on in shot. "No way is that going to go in." he muttered to himself. "No way... not even if a meteor hit the court..." The ball curved downwards and Midorima turned, walking back to his basket. As everyone in the court stopped moving to watch, Kuroko ran by Kagami and as she passed, she muttered something to her out of the side of her mouth.

"Don't stop." Then she was gone. Heeding her advice, Kagami raced the remaining distance to Shutoku's basket, and then he realized what Kuroko intended to do. The basketball fell like a missle through the net and as soon as it hit the ground, Kuroko scooped it in a spin and launched it back across the court, barely missing Midorima's face. The ball powered across the court and slammed into Kagami's hand, making him wince.

"The last time i caught it, I was helping Kise. How did she manage to catch so many of these passes so many time?" He jumped and easily it in, putting Seirin only two points behind.

"This is stupid," Takao thought, as he moved the ball up the court. He passed to Otsubo, who made a layup. "At least the game is moving more freely now."

Hyuga threw the ball toward Kuroko and as the ball traveled toward her, she look a quick look around her. Swaying to the side, she deflected the ball toward Izuki and he laid the ball into the basket. Point by point, Seirin gained on Shutoku until finally, Hyuga's points swished through the basket as the buzzer sounded for the quarter to end, putting Seirin up by one.

Swallowing the water in huge gulps, Kagami relaxed. Since the game with Too, he has not been so taxed for strength before. The rest of the team was no exception. Seeing their exhaustion, Riko could not help but feel sympathy toward the players. It was indeed very tiring to play against two Emperors in a single day. "Good job. Now, we just need to maintain this lead. Remember, don't push yourself too hard, okay?"

Breathing an affirmative, the players massaged their sore muscles. Kuroko once again fell a prickling sensation on her neck that she felt when someone was watching her. Ignoring it, she stood with the rest of her team as the buzzer sounded.

Above the audience: The red haired boy leaned on the railings as he watched the game below. Behind him, a taller boy with darker blue hair emerged from the shadows, along with a enormous purple haired high schooler. Without turning, he greeted them. "So...we're all here...all six of us are here." Murasakibara and Aomine stepped to Akashi side and they watched the game as two of their own battled below.


	28. Return

Kise faced Midorima as she dribbled the ball at her side.

"Come," he said, staring into her eyes as he tried to read her thoughts and movements; anything that will give away her next actions. Suddenly, the blonde in front of him was gone, as Kise ducked and flashed to the right and sped down the court and dunked another basket. Shutoku was losing by 6 points now, the score 34-28.

As Kise passed Midorima on her way back, she stopped. "Stop holding back..." He watched Kise out of the corner of his eyes. Letting out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding, he slowly nodded.

"So be it, Kise Ryoka. Don't let it be your regret..." He turned and walked over to Takao. "Pass to me more. It doesn't matter where I am... just do it." Takao looked shocked, and he nodded.

As Kagami made a lucky three pointer, Takao passed the ball to Midorima. Instead of dribbling toward Seirin's basket, he remained inside the paint of his own court, and bent his knees. Then, jumping high to produce the power required to send a basketball over the length of the entire court, he released the basketball and it arced up close to the ceiling, and passed through the net, smashing into the ground with incredible force from the momentum gained in the ball's flight.

Kise sucked in a breath. She had assumed that Midorima's range was much shorter than that. In Teiko, his range had been the half court line, not across the court. Dimly, she registered Kuroko shouting at her, an uncharacteristic action. "Ki-chan, _what did you say to him?_" Kise shook her head. It didn't matter how wide Midorima's range was. He can't do a thing if she continued to guard him.

She took off and as Takao missed a shot, she jumped for the rebound. Wrapping her hands around the ball, she fell back on the ground, and a lance of pain shot up her left leg. Her leg no longer supporting her, she pitched forward with a cry and crashed onto the ground. The ball rolled out of her hands and she laid on the floor, unconscious.

Above the audience, the the other three member of the Generation watched in shock as Kise crashed to the ground. Aomine made to run down the staircase, but Murasakibara held out a huge hand to stop him. He slowly shook his head and continued watching.

"Kise!" Kagami ran to her side and lifted her until she was sitting up. A large bruise darkened her forehead.

A team of medics hurried onto the court. "Move!" A nurse checked on Kise, looking at her leg and her head. He looked up and reported. "She has a minor concussion and a sprained ankle."

As he heard the report, Kagami could hardly believe his ears. Such a huge racket and she only got a concussion and a sprained ankle? He felt some of his worry drain away, but the core of his fear remained. The medics carried Kise out of the court and away to somewhere quiet where she could recover.

As Kuroko made a move to follow, Riko laid a hand on her shoulder, and Kuroko looked back, the pain evident in her expression. "I understand...I will take Ki-chan's place on the team, although I am not her equal." Riko nodded and Kuroko joined her team on the court.

The game continued with Shutoku catching up. "Kagami!" Kagami snapped back into reality just in time to catch the ball that went flying toward his face. Jumping up, he made a lay-up, but he remained distracted.

Kuroko watched the player in front of her. He was the boy that she met at the tunnel, the one that noticed her. His eyes followed her every movement, and it was unnerving. Disappearing again, she once more redirected a pass, and Takao knocked it once more out of the air. "It doesn't matter how many time you try it... it won't work." Catching the ball, Takao reversed direction and scored another basket.

As Takao headed back, by chance, he ran alongside Midorima. Midorima spoke. "Don't underestimate her."

Takao looked at him questioningly. Midorima looked at him. "You dont seriously believe that passing is all Kuroko can do, do you?"

Takao stopped. "That is all she has been doing though... even when she is by the basket, she always passes."

"There are two reasons. One, is that it drains misdirection slightly faster. Two, is that Kuroko is naturally weak and sickly, and she prefers not to do the more tiring things such as scoring."

Takao is stunned. He's never heard of a player not scoring when he or she has a chance to, but he kept him comments to himself. It wasn't that he didnt believe Midorima; its just hard to believe that Kuroko could do anything more than pass when that is all she was doing the entire game so far.

Meanwhile, Kuroko walked quietly alongside Izuki as he slowly dribbled down the court, looking for opening. "Senpai, do you mind if i lead the assault this time?"

Izuki's thought drifted back to the terrifying game they had when Kuroko was upset. "Um... sure." Kuroko gave a small bow and sped up. Izuki threw the ball after her, and as she caught it, she vanished... at least in the eyes of Shutoku; except for Takao. What he could see is Kuroko using her team as cover and directing attention to them as she move the ball across the court at a startling speed.

As Kuroko moved, she felt that burning gaze again, and despite her worry for Kise, she felt her heart speed up even more and her blood running through her veins like liquid fire.

Suddenly, she appeared again, with only Takao in her way. Widening his stance, he was determined not to let Kuroko pass. With a feint, she dribbled pass him, tripping him up with the ball as she went by and shot the ball, bouncing it off the backboard and into the basket.

Behind the audience, Aomine cheered, while Akashi said nothing, but a hint of a smile danced across his lips. Their mood was ruined, however, when Murasakibara pointed out a fact that none of them had wanted to talk about.

"She's tiring really fast." Each time Kuroko made a basket, or performed some maneuver, she slowed. Despite her efforts, Seirin continued to lag behind as Midorima's constant barrage of shots steadily increased Shutoku's score.

Kagami blinked as sweat dripped into his eyes, a painful sensation as his eye dried momentarily. Midorima just made another shot and Kuroko looked ready to drop. He shook his head. No matter how worried he was about Kise, he knoew that she will be okay, given enough time. What he must focus on is the game. He caught the ball Izuki passed to him and dribbled until he faced Midorima. He narrowed his eyes. "We'll beat you, no matter what!"

He jumped, and shot a three pointer, and charged toward the basket. The ball hit the rim and bounced off and he hit the ball back in. "There...thats two point back."

he wiped sweat from his face again and looked at the scoreboard. Its the third quarter and the score is 67-85. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Takao knock the ball out of Izuki's hands; Kuroko's misdirection ran out. The ball bounced to Midorima. Biting back a curse, he launched himself at the shooting guard and jumped straight up. Midorima shot and the ball shot over his finger tips.

"Damn...just a little higher," he thought. Midorima turned, and caught Kagami's eye. A challenge flashed between them, and Midorima jogged back to his court.

The game continued and Kagami once again found himself facing Midorima. Midorima jumped, and with him Kagami. Kagami once again reached for the the ball. "I refuse to lose..." Forcing himself higher, his finger brushed the basketball, and it spun out of control in midair, bouncing out of bounds.

Running a hand through his fiery hair, Kagami looked Midorima in the eye. "Bring it on... I won't lose. Not to anyone!" With that, he turned.

Breathing hard, he dribbled the ball and passed it to Hyuga, who made a three point. The ball found its way back to Midorima _again_ and he readied himself to shoot. Checking Kagami's position, Midorima jumped, but Kagami reached him in a heart beat. Shouting, Kagami reached over Midorima and grabbed the ball, throwing it back to Izuki, who made a lay up. As he landed, he swayed. His legs burned, and he didn't think he can keep jumping like that.

Wary of Kagami, Midorima refrained from making any more long range shots, settling instead for normal three pointers. The score jammed again, the two teams maintaining a 11 point difference.

Akashi walked back up the staircase. "Oh, welcome back," Aomine greeted. "Kagami just blocked Midorima." The tall blue haired boy seemed unimpressed.

The red haired boy nodded. "He shows promise." He walked between the center and the power forward and leaned over the railing, watching Kuroko.

Kuroko looked up one more time and saw Akashi clearly for the first time in half a year. Even across that vast distance, she saw Akashi nod to her. Understanding, she gestured to Izuki for the ball one last time. She must close the point difference to a single digit before...

Clearing her mind of any stray thoughts, she focused, and sped toward Shutoku's basket, pounding pass Takao and Midorima and shooting the ball into the basket.

* * *

><p>She woke up to a white ceiling. Her head throbbed. In a flash, everything that has happened came to her. Kise sat up and swung her long legs over the side of the bed. As she tried to walk, her ankle sent a lance of pain up her leg. Looking down, she saw her feet bound. She knelt and tore the bandages off and ignoring the pain, walked out toward the bright light of the courts.<p>

Note: This chapter didnt come out so well...sorry. Review, and suggest :D


	29. A Failed Buzzer Beater

As Kise walked onto the court, she was momentarily blinded by the bright lights on the ceiling. As her vision cleared, she saw Kuroko score a basket and then just stand there as everyone went back. Sweat ran down her face, and Kise felt a pang of guilt. If only she had been more careful, she wouldn't have gotten hurt and Kuroko wouldn't need to push herself so hard. She ran to Riko, who looked surprised to see her.

"Kise, what are you-" Riko began, but Kise cut her off.

"Please, let me play."

Riko looked reluctant, but she knew that if they wanted to win, Kise's presence is required. However, if a player is hurt, she would rather lose than for that player to get even more injured. She tried one more time to dissuade Kise.

Kise shook her head, refusing to back down. "Please!"

With a sigh, and maybe a small amount of relief, Riko called for a member change. As the whistle blew, Kuroko straightened up, a bead of sweat running down her hair and fell to the floor. As she started toward the benches, Kise tossed a water bottle to her. She caught it gratefully and drank.

As she passed her, Kuroko said something so quiet, Kise almost didn't hear her.

"I knew you were coming. _He_ told me."

Kise stopped, surprised, but before she can say anything, the game continued.

Riko looked at the exhausted girl next to her; the girl who pushed her limits despite having such a fragile body. A girl who is weak of body, but strong of mind. As she watched, Kuroko raised her head, and that familiar glint in her eyes was there, watching the game with a intense gaze.

Kise pounded down the court as she dunked a basket, the pain of her ankle no more troubling than annoying mosquito bite. She high fived Kagami, and she saw the last of his worry drain out of his eyes.

The game went back and forth, and Seirin slowly but steadily caught up as the firepower increased significantly, and only Midorima can keep up with Kise for a extended period of time. Kise narrowed her eyes and activated her copying ability. She dropped low against the ground, keeping the ball no more than a foot above the ground and shot pass Midorima and Takao. As she near the basket ad jump, suddenly Shutoku's captain was there, a wall between her and her goal. _No matter._She leaned back until she was almost parallel to the ground and shot, mimicking Aomine's shot.

Her copy wasn't perfect though. Even as she watched, the ball bounced off the rim...and entered, propelled by Kagami's hands. Seirin cheered as the score closed to 0 with 50 seconds left on the timer.

"As if we'd let you win!" Otsubo roared. Thundered down the court, he dunked the ball into the basket. Charging down the court, Kagami turned to receive a pass.

In her mind, Kise saw Kuroko; her blue hair swirling around her as she turned; the massive energy generated from the spin as she sent the ball the ball rocketing across the court like a beam of light. Keeping the image her her mind, she caught the ball as it fell from the basket, spun, and threw it. As Otsubo raised his hand to block the pass, the ball blasted his hand aside and continued down the court.

15 seconds left...

Kagami tried to catch it, but Kise is much stronger than Kuroko, and the ball bounced off his hands and sideways toward the bleachers.

13 seconds left...

Takao raced for the ball, but as the ball almost reached his fingertips, Izuki appeared, scooping the ball off the floor and hurling across the court, before crashing onto the ground with Takao as a cushion.

9 seconds left...

Hyuga caught the wild pass and jumped, taking a open shot. The ball went clean through the net. Beneath it, Miyaji, Shutoku's small forward, caught it.

7 seconds left...

He sent the shot spinning toward Midorima who braced himself for a shot across the court. As he saw Kagami thundering toward him, Midorima waited and pushed off.

5 seconds...

Kagami reached him and soared into the sky, and Midorima crouched back down.

3 seconds

As Kagami began to fall, Midorima jumped.

2 seconds

Midorima's wrist flicked and the ball left his fingers.

1 second

The ball exploded out of the sky, as the power behind Midorima's hand collided with Kise's. Looking down in shock, Midorima saw Kise vaulting over Kagami's shoulder to gain extra height.

0 seconds...the buzzer rang.


	30. Nightmare Bribes

Aomine sat at a large table in a dark room. The room was lit by a single candle in the middle of the table. Across from him is Kise.

Kise leaned forward. "So...what do you say, Aomine-cchi? If you throw tomorrow's match, I'll have every one of the models behind me pose for you to take pictures. If you want, I'll even pose myself." She gestured, and out of the darkness behind her, footsteps fell and at least ten models stepped into the light. Kise's eyes glinted in the candlelight.

Aomine gulped. This is a rare chance... He surveyed the models. Each of them had large breasts and the perfect forms! Trust Kise to know his interests.

As Kise saw Aomine's resolve waver, she pulled out a clipboard and slid it across the table at him. "If you accept, just sign there."

His hands shaking, Aomine reached for the clipboard. A bead of sweat slid down his cheek. His fingers brushed the paper...

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Aomine sat straight up in his bed, his blankets flung off. He put his face in both hands, calming down. He had almost betrayed his team... even if it's only in a dream. As his heart stopped hammering, he laid back down and stared at the ceiling, his thoughts drifting away to tomorrow's basketball game. Eventually, he closed his eyes and slept fitfully until morning.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Riko pointed at the diagram in front of her and a circle of her basketball team gathered around to look. "We have gotten stronger since the practice game with Too. In fact, if i had to judge, i would say that we are stronger now than Too's total strength when we last played. Our chance of victory depends of how much they improved. All we have to do is play at our best, and we have a shot at victory." She looked meaningfully at the gathered players.

"Question!"

"Yes, Izuki?"

Izuki rubbed his sore muscles. "What about Momoi? One of the major reasons that we lost so badly last game is because of her predicting our every move."

Riko nodded wisely. "Yeah, well i can't do anything about that, so you boys... and girls will just have to stick to improvising!"

Suddenly, they heard the metallic screech of a set of heavy metal doors being opened, and the talking crowds on the bleachers quieted. Just as quickly as the crowd quieted, they started cheering as players wearing black and red walked out. The Tōō team has arrived.

Note: This chapter is meant only for comedy, and a quick way to skip the introduction that ive written over and over. I'll skip right to the game next chapter.


	31. Rematch

Change Hyūga and Tōō

The team all stood up and stretched their limbs, getting their blood flowing again after remaining still looking at the diagram of the plan. Moments later, a boy opened the door and beckoned to them. Riko turned to them once more, yelling at the top of her voice.

"Okay, boys! Let's go and give them what deserve, after beating us last time. Does anyone disagree?"

"NO!" came the reply of every person in the room. The sound bounced all over the room, and the boy cringed at the noise. He turned and walked out, Seirin following. The boy stopped at their door and stood aside. Kagami and Mitobe opened the door, the bottom of the metal gate screeching against the wooden floor, silencing the crowd once more. It didn't last long though. The half of the crowd that weren't cheering for Tōō started stamping their feet, and cheering, showing their support for Seirin.

The players walked over to their bench and dropped off their towels and bottle and half of them formed a circle around Riko for a last minute conference, mirroring the Tōō team. After shooting a brief glance over in their direction, Kagami commented. "Glad to see that they aren't underestimating us anymore. They didn't even bother with the circle the last time we played."

The team laughed quietly and broke their circle to meet Tōō's lineup in the center of the court. Determined to try and take the lead at the start of the game, Seirin sent the lineup with the highest scoring potential; Kuroko, Kise, Kagami, Izuki and Hyūga. There are no centers, but Kagami could double as one in a pinch.

Tōō's lineup consisted of their default team; Aomine, Sakurai, Imayoshi, Susa and Wakamatsu. As long as Aomine was present, they always showed their strongest lineup. The teams stared at each other, full of competitive spirit. Even if Tōō dominated Seirin in their practice match, each knew that they have both grown stronger with practice, and Seirin had a lot more latent talent in their three rookies.

The teams split up and dispersed around the two tall players facing off in the center of the court, with the referee in between them, poised to throw the ball straight up. With a single movement of practiced familiarity, the referee threw the ball up for the tip off, back up immediately. Wakamatsu and Kagami both crouched and then burst upwards in their impressive height, their hands grasping for the basketball ball. As the ball reached the zenith of its flight, it was suddenly knocked out of the air by Kagami; using his jumping power to tower over Wakamatsu. The ball flew through the air and into Kise's hands.

She immediately faced her goal, Tōō's basket, and took off running up the court, Aomine hot on her heels and overtaking her quickly.

"Do you really think I'll just let you charge into our zone right at the start of the game? Aren't you underestimating me."

Just as Aomine caught up and moved to intercept the ball while it was in the air mid-dribble, Kise hooked the ball under and tossed it behind her to Kuroko, who had long before left Susa, her mark, behind. Taking a heartbeat to face Aomine and catch her breath, she shook her head. "Not right now, but someday, yes."

Redirecting it, she smacked the ball to her right with her left hand toward the three point semi-circle, lobbing it over the reach of anyone in between her and her target, Hyuga. As Sakurai tried to intercept it, Hyuga managed to lightly muscle him out of way the grabbed the ball. Jumping straight up, he used his superior height to escape Sakurai's block.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a flash of white and red. Kagami's voice confirmed his thoughts. "Wait, Hyuga!" He heard the warning somewhere in front of him, but it was too late. He released the ball and it was smashed out of the air by Tōō's center and into Sakurai's hands. In turn, the Tōō shooting guard passed it to Imayoshi.

The two point guards faced each other, watching each other for movement. At the moment, they were alone on the Seirin side of the court, until the rest of the teams can run back; only Izuki stood between Imayoshi and the basket. Then, Imayoshi made his move; he feint to his left, and then to his right. Izuki's eyes remains focused on Imayoshi's face, trying to read his thoughts while relying on his Eagle eye to keep track of the ball. He knew that Imayoshi was left handed, so when he feinted to his right, Izuki couldn't catch up.

Swiftly, Imayoshi closed the remaining distance to the three point line and screech to a stop, loosing a three pointer that went in cleanly. He grinned at Izuki and ran back toward his basket. Without wasting a moment, Izuki scooped up the ball and tossed in to Hyuga who returned it.

Seirin, unfazed by the loss of the first point, pushed onwards, determined to even out the score. At the half court mark, Imayoshi turned to face Izuki, who is now on the defensive. Izuki lowered himself and burst to Imayoshi's right, his weaker side. As Imayoshi moved to stop him, Izuki bounced the ball between his legs to Kuroko who deflected it to Hyuga, guarded by Sakurai. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aomine rushing toward him, leaving Kise behind.

"Crap, if he gets the ball, he'll drag the score out more..." Hyuga narrowed his eyes, knowing it was futile to try to score a three pointer when Aomine is so close. He gritted his teeth and passed it to Kagami, who charged toward the basket; followed by Wakamatsu. He saw that Aomine had broke off his run toward Hyuga and is now headed toward him instead.

As he reached the basket, he jumped high and pushed the ball toward the open hoop. However, when he jumped, Wakamatsu caught up and jumped with him less than a heartbeat later; his hand pushing the ball just enough that it flew out of Kagami's hand and bounced off the backboard.

Kagami's hand smacked against the rim, pulling it down slightly before letting go in disgust; both players landing with a thud as their shoes hit the wooden floor. "Kise!" he called. There was really no need.

She jumped and caught the stray ball and attempted to dunk it with both hands, only for it to be cushioned by Aomine's strength pushing against hers. They hung in the air for a moment, stretched out unnaturally to them both from the adrenaline. Finally, Aomine brought up his other hand and hit the ball sideways, and both their hands slipped past each other when the ball slipped out from Kise's grasp. "Not good enough," Aomine muttered, as they fell back to the ground.

Imayoshi grabbed hold of the ball again, but passed to Sakurai under the pressure of Izuki's defense; who took off toward Seirin's basket with Hyuga hot on his heels, the rest of the team giving chase. When Hyuga finally caught up to Sakurai, the shorter boy stopped suddenly and took a shot without aiming much; his specialty. The ball once again sailed cleanly through the net with a swishing noise; the ball pulling the net toward the back of board until it rebounded the other way when the net wouldn't give.

When he saw that the points were scored, Imayoshi stopped abruptedly along with everyone else on Tōō's team. As Izuki passed him, he grinned.

"I know you've improved, but we're unbeatable..." His glasses went white, reflecting the light that glowed from the tall ceiling and jogged back toward his basket, leaving Izuki to collect the ball.

Behind him, Izuki smiled too as his team joined him. The other players also grinned, with the exception of Mitobe and Kuroko. "I wonder about that...Tōō!"

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><p>Notes: As promised, I updated it. Yay! To be honest, I was going to abandoned this fanfiction since I had started a new account and abandoned the old one, but then I felt bad because I didn't even finish writing it, so I moved it to this account to continue it.<p>

Thank you to anyone who continued to read it even after the move! By the way, the old copy was deleted, since I updated on his account. Sorry for my bad writing. Action is not my forte in writing...

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><p><span><em><strong>Hiatus<strong>_


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